Ottoman Syria
Syria, 1516–1918. Draft, not yet reviewed
Ottoman Syria is a historiographical term used to describe the group of divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of the Levant. The Ottoman Sultan Selim I conquered Syria in 1516 after defeating the Mamlukes at the Battle of Marj Dabiq near Aleppo in northern Syria. Selim carried on his victorious campaign against the Mamlukes and conquered Egypt in 1517 following the Battle of Ridanieh, bringing an end to the Mamluk Sultanate. The Syrian eyalets were later transformed into the Syria Vilayet, the Aleppo Vilayet and the Beirut Vilayet, following the 1864 Tanzimat reforms.
Seat of power: Damascus
No rulers documented for this era yet.
Culture
- Ottoman Syria was organized by the Ottomans upon conquest from the Mamluk Sultanate in the early 16th century as a single eyalet (province) of the Damascus Eyalet.
- In 1534, the Aleppo Eyalet was split into a separate administration.
- In 1667, the Mount Lebanon Emirate was given special autonomous status within the Sidon province, but was abolished in 1842 and reconfigured in 1861 as the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate.
- In 1872, the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem was split from the Syria Vilayet into an autonomous administration with a special status.
Picture
Al-Azm Palace, built in 1749 in Damascus, was the private residence of As'ad Pasha al-Azm, the governor of Damascus.
Image: krebsmaus07, CC BY 2.0, file
Sources
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.