A wilayah ( or ''wilāya'', plural ;

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

and ; ) is an administrative division, usually translated as "state", "

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

" or occasionally as "

governorate A governorate or governate is an administrative division headed by a governor. As English-speaking nations tend to call regions administered by governors either states or provinces, the term ''governorate'' is typically used to calque divisions ...

". The word comes from the

Arabic root The roots of verbs and most nouns in the Semitic languages are characterized as a sequence of consonants or "radicals" (hence the term consonantal root). Such abstract consonantal roots are used in the formation of actual words by adding the vowels ...

"''w-l-y''", "to govern": a ''

wāli ''Wāli'', ''Wā'lī'' or ''vali'' (from ''Wālī'') is an administrative title that was used in the Muslim world (including the Rashidun, Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates and the Ottoman Empire) to designate governors of administrative divis ...

''—"governor"—governs a ''wālāya'' (or ''wilāya''), "that which is governed". Under the

Caliphate A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

, the term referred to any constituent near-sovereign state.

Use in specific countries

In Arabic, ''wilayah'' is used to refer to the

states State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and the United States of America as a whole is called ''al-Wilāyāt al-Muttaḥidah al-Amrīkīyah'', literally meaning "the American United States".

North Africa and Middle East

For

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, which is divided into provinces ''and'' wilāyas, the translation "province" would cause the distinction to cease. For

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

, the term ''state'' and for

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

, the term ''region'' is used. *

Provinces of Algeria Algeria, as of 2024, is divided into 58 wilaya, wilayas (province, provinces). Prior to December 18, 2019, there were 48 provinces. The 58 provinces are divided into 1,541 baladiyahs (Municipalities of Algeria, municipalities). The name of a pro ...

Provinces of Oman The administrative division of Oman contains eleven governorates (''muhafazah, muhafazat''), and within the governorates, Oman is sub-divided into 62 provinces (''wilayat''). Ad Dakhiliyah Governorate Ad Dhahirah Governorate Al Batinah ...

Regions of Mauritania Mauritania is divided into 15 regions (): During the Mauritanian occupation of Western Sahara (1975–79), its portion of the territory (mainly corresponding to the lower half of Río de Oro province) was named Tiris al-Gharbiyya. The reg ...

States of Sudan Below is a list of the 18 states of the Sudan (Arabic names are in parentheses). Prior to 9 July 2011, the Republic of the Sudan was composed of 25 states. The ten southern states now form part of the independent country of South Sudan. Two ad ...

Governorates of Tunisia Tunisia is divided into 24 governorates (''wilayat'', sing. ''wilayah''). This term in Arabic can also be translated as province. The governorates are divided into 264 delegations (''mutamadiyat''), and further subdivided into municipalitie ...

The

governorates of Iraq Iraq consists of 19 governorates (; ), also known as "provinces". Per the Iraqi constitution, governorates can form a Federal regions of Iraq, federal region. Four governorates, Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Halabja and Duhok, constitute the semi-autono ...

(

muhafazah A is a first-level administrative division of many Arab countries, and a second-level administrative division in Saudi Arabia. The term is usually translated as "governorate", and occasionally as "province". It comes from the Arabic triconsonant ...

) are sometimes translated as provinces, in contrast to official Iraqi documents and the general use for other Arab countries. This conflicts somehow with the general translation for ''muhafazah'' (

) and ''wilāyah'' (province).

China

In the ethnically diverse

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

region of Northwest China, the seven undifferentiated

prefectures A prefecture (from the Latin word, "''praefectura"'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain inter ...

proper ( zh, s=地区, p=dìqū; that is, not prefecture-level cities, autonomous prefectures, etc.) are translated into the

Uygur language Uyghur or Uighur (; , , or , , ), formerly known as Turki or Eastern Turki, is a Turkic language with 8 to 13 million speakers (), spoken primarily by the Uyghur people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of Western China. Apart from ...

as ''Vilayiti'' (). For the other, more numerous types of administrative divisions in Xinjiang, however, Uygur uses Russian loanwords like ''oblasti'' or ''rayoni'', in common with other Xinjiang languages like Kazakh.

Kenya and Tanzania

In Kenya and Tanzania, the term ''wilaya'' is a

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language officially used in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes. * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa. * Swahili culture, the culture of the Swahili p ...

term which refers to the administrative districts into which provinces are divided. *

Districts of Kenya Sub-counties, formerly known as Districts, are the decentralised units through which government of Kenya provides functions and services. At national level, sub-counties take a more administrative function like security, statistical purposes, pr ...

Districts of Tanzania As of 2021, there are 31 regions of Tanzania, regions (Swahili: mkoa, plural mikoa) of Tanzania which are divided into 184 districts (Swahili: wilayah, wilaya). In 2016, Songwe Region was created from the western part of Mbeya Region. The dis ...

Southeast Asia

In Malay (both in Malaysian and

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

standards) and Tausug, ''wilayah'' or ''wilāya'' is a general word meaning "territory", "area" or "region". In

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, it is the standard Malay term used to translate a " province"". In

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, the term * ''Wilayah Persekutuan'', often shortened to "Wilayah" in colloquial speech, refers to the three federal territories under direct control of the federal government:

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

Labuan Labuan (), officially the Federal Territory of Labuan (), is an island federal territory of Malaysia. It includes and six smaller islands off the coast of the state of Sabah in East Malaysia. Labuan's capital is Victoria, which is best kno ...

and

Putrajaya Putrajaya (), officially the Federal Territory of Putrajaya (), is the administrative centre of Malaysia. The Seat of government, seat of the Government of Malaysia, federal government of Malaysia was moved in 1999 from Kuala Lumpur to Putrajay ...

. * ''Wilayah Ekonomi Pantai Timur'', is translated as East Coast Economic Region In the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, the term * ''Wilāya sin Lupa' Sūg'' refers to the province of

Sulu Sulu (), officially the Province of Sulu (Tausug language, Tausūg: ''Wilaya' sin Lupa' Sūg''; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines in the Sulu Archipelago. It was part of the Bangsamoro, Bangsamoro Autonomous R ...

, Philippines.

Ottoman Empire

Traditionally the provinces of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

were known as ''eyâlet''s, but beginning in 1864, they were gradually restructured as smaller ''vilâyet''s—the Turkish pronunciation of the Arabic word ''wilāyah''. Most were subdivided into

sanjak A sanjak or sancak (, , "flag, banner") was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans also sometimes called the sanjak a liva (, ) from the name's calque in Arabic and Persian. Banners were a common organization of nomad ...

s. The current

provinces of Turkey Turkey is divided into 81 provinces (). Each province is divided into a number of districts of Turkey, districts (). Each provincial government is seated in the central district (). For non-Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan munic ...

are called ''il'' in Turkish.

Islamic State

The territory under the governance of the

Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...

(ISIS) is referred to them as officially being divided into ''wilayah'', often translated into English as "

". An example is

Islamic State – Khorasan Province The Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISKP or ISIS–K) is a regional branch of the Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist group Islamic State (IS) active in Central Asia, Central and South Asia, primarily Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uz ...

and Islamic State - West Africa Province.

Central Asia and Caucasus

The

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

word for ''province'' (''velâyat'') is still used in several similar forms in

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

n countries: *

Provinces of Afghanistan The provinces of Afghanistan ( ''Wilayah, wilāyat'') are the primary administrative divisions. Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces. Each province encompasses a number of Districts of Afghanistan, districts or usually over 1,000 villages. ...

(, ''wilāyat'', plural: ولايتونه, ''wilāyatuna''), subdivided into

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

(, ''wuləswāləi'' or , ''wolaswālī'') *

Regions of Tajikistan Administratively, Tajikistan is divided into: * one autonomous region (; ) * two regions (, ), sing. , , ) * the districts under republic subordination * the capital city, Dushanbe. List of regions ;Notes: Administrative divisions Eac ...

(singular: viloyat, plural: viloyatho), subdivided into districts (, '' nohiya'' or , ''raion'') *

Regions of Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is divided into five regions, or ''welaýatlar'' (singular ''Wilaya, welaýat'') and one capital city (''şäher'') with provincial legal status. They are Ahal Region, Ahal, Balkan Region, Balkan, Daşoguz Region, Dashoguz, Lebap Re ...

(singular: welaýat, plural: welaýatlar), subdivided into districts () *

Regions of Uzbekistan Uzbekistan is divided into 12 regions (''viloyatlar'', singularwilayah, viloyat, ''viloyati'' in compound, e.g. Toshkent ''viloyati''), 1 autonomous republic (''respublika'', ''respublikasi'' in compound, e.g. Qaraqalpaqstan Avtonom ''Respubl ...

(singular: viloyat, plural: viloyatlar), subdivided into districts () During the

Soviet period The history of the Soviet Union (USSR) (1922–91) began with the ideals of the Russian Bolshevik Revolution and ended in dissolution amidst economic collapse and political disintegration. Established in 1922 following the Russian Civil War, ...

the divisions of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan were called ''

oblast An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...

s'' and ''

raion A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is c ...

s'', using

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

terminology. In the

Tsez language Tsez, also known as Dido ( () or ()), is a Northeast Caucasian language with about 15,000 speakers (15,354 in 2002) spoken by the Tsez, a Muslim people in the mountainous Tsunta District of southwestern Dagestan in Russia. The name is said ...

, the districts of

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; ; ), officially the Republic of Dagestan, is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, along the Caspian Sea. It is located north of the Greater Caucasus, and is a part of the North Caucasian Fede ...

are also referred to as "вилайат" (''wilayat''), plural "вилайатйоби" (''wilayatyobi''). But the term "район" (''

rayon Rayon, also called viscose and commercialised in some countries as sabra silk or cactus silk, is a semi-synthetic fiber made from natural sources of regenerated cellulose fiber, cellulose, such as wood and related agricultural products. It has t ...

''), plural "районйаби" (''rayonyabi'') is also used.

Caucasus Emirate The Caucasus Emirate (, IK; ), also known as the Caucasian Emirate, Emirate of Caucasus, or Islamic Emirate of the Caucasus, was a jihadist organisation active in rebel-held parts of Syria and previously in the North Caucasus region of Russia. It ...

, a self-proclaimed successor state to the unrecognized

Chechen Republic of Ichkeria The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria ( ; ; ; abbreviated as "ChRI" or "CRI"), known simply as Ichkeria, was a ''de facto'' State (polity), state that controlled most of the former Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Checheno-Ingus ...

, is divided into vilayats.

South Asia

The Persian word for province (velâyat) is still used in several similar forms in South Asian countries as well: (Pashto: ولايت, wilāyat, plural: ولايتونه, wilāyatuna), subdivided into districts (Pashto: ولسوالۍ, wuləswāləi or Persian: ولسوالی, wolaswālī) In

, the term ''Vilayat'' is used to refer to any foreign country. As an adjective ''Vilayati'' is used to indicate an imported article or good. In

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

and Assamese, the term is ''bilat'' and ''bilati'' (archaic ''bilaiti''), referring exclusively to Britain and British-made. The British slang term

blighty "Blighty" is a British English slang term for Great Britain, or often specifically England. Though it was used throughout the 1800s in the Indian subcontinent to mean an English or British visitor, it was first used during the Boer War in the sp ...

derives from this word, via the fact that the foreign British were referred to using this word during the time of the British Raj.

References

{{Terms for types of country subdivisions Arabic words and phrases Types of administrative division Malay language