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Sanjaks were administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299?1923. It was Treaty of Lausanne by the Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923....
. Sanjak, and the variant spellings sandjak, sanjaq, and sinjaq, are English transliterations of the Turkish
Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other parts of Eastern Europe....
 word sancak, meaning district, banner, or flag. Sanjaks were also called by the Arabic word for banner or flag, liwa
Liwa (arabic)

Liwa , a type of administrative division....
.

aks originally were the first-level subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire
Subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire

The subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire were administrative divisions of the state organisation of the Ottoman Empire based on military administration but with civil executive functions as well....
. They arose in the mid-14th century as military districts that were part of a military-feudal
Feudalism

Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period , in its most classic sense refers to a Middle Ages European political system composed of a set of reciprocal law and military obligations among the warrior nobility, revolving around the three key concepts of lords, vassals, and fiefs....
 system.






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Sanjaks were administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299?1923. It was Treaty of Lausanne by the Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923....
. Sanjak, and the variant spellings sandjak, sanjaq, and sinjaq, are English transliterations of the Turkish
Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other parts of Eastern Europe....
 word sancak, meaning district, banner, or flag. Sanjaks were also called by the Arabic word for banner or flag, liwa
Liwa (arabic)

Liwa , a type of administrative division....
.

History

Sanjaks originally were the first-level subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire
Subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire

The subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire were administrative divisions of the state organisation of the Ottoman Empire based on military administration but with civil executive functions as well....
. They arose in the mid-14th century as military districts that were part of a military-feudal
Feudalism

Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period , in its most classic sense refers to a Middle Ages European political system composed of a set of reciprocal law and military obligations among the warrior nobility, revolving around the three key concepts of lords, vassals, and fiefs....
 system. In addition to the paid professional army, the Ottoman army had corps of cavalry soldiers (called spahis or sipahi) who performed military service in return for estates granted
Fiefdom

Under the system of feudalism, a fiefdom, fief, feud, feoff, or fee, often consisted of inheritance lands or revenue-producing property granted by a Allegiance lord, generally to a vassal, in return for a form of allegiance, originally to give him the means to fulfill his military duties when called upon....
 by the Sultan (larger estates were called zaim or zeamet, smaller ones timar). Spahis gathered for war according to the Sanjak in which they lived, and were led by an official called a Sanjak-beg or Sanjakbey
Bey

Bey is a Turkish language title for "chieftain," traditionally applied to the leaders of small tribal groups. In historical accounts, many Turkey, other Turkic peoples and Iran leaders are titled Baig....
 (roughly equivalent to "district governor").

With the formation of new first-level divisions, the beylerbeyliks (later eyalets and vilayets), in the late 14th century, sanjaks were mostly second level divisions.

The number of Sanjaks in the Empire varied greatly. The Tanzimat
Tanzimat

The Tanzimat , meaning reorganization of the Ottoman Empire, was a period of reformation that began in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876....
 reforms of the 19th century saw the number climb to over 400, but more usually it was around 150.

Not all sanjaks were part of a province; some were in newly conquered areas that had yet to be assigned to a province and others such as Benghazi
Benghazi

Benghazi or Bengasi is the second largest city in Libya and the main city of the Cyrenaica region . It is also a Districts of Libya of Libya of the wider city area....
 and Çatalca
Çatalca

?atalca is a rural district of Istanbul Province, in Thrace, on the ridge between the Marmara and the Black Sea. Most people living in ?atalca are either farmers or those visiting vacation homes....
 remained independent of the province system with their leaders reporting directly to the Porte
Porte

Ottoman Porte used to refer to the Divan of the Ottoman Empire where government policies were established....
.

The contemporary name of the Balkan
Balkans

The Balkans is the historical name of a geographic subregion of southeastern Europe. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains, which run through the centre of Bulgaria into eastern Serbia....
 region of Sandžak
Sandžak

Sand?ak is a region lying along the border between Serbia and Montenegro. It derives its name from the Sanjak of Novi Pazar, a former Ottoman Empire administrative district that existed until the Balkan Wars of 1912....
 derives from its former status as the Ottoman Sanjak of Novi Pazar
Sanjak of Novi Pazar

The Sanjak of Novi Pazar was an Ottoman Empire sanjak that existed until the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 in the territory of present day Serbia and Montenegro and serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija under UN jurisdiction....
.

See also

  • Subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire
    Subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire

    The subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire were administrative divisions of the state organisation of the Ottoman Empire based on military administration but with civil executive functions as well....
  • Sandžak
    Sandžak

    Sand?ak is a region lying along the border between Serbia and Montenegro. It derives its name from the Sanjak of Novi Pazar, a former Ottoman Empire administrative district that existed until the Balkan Wars of 1912....
  • Sanjak of Novi Pazar
    Sanjak of Novi Pazar

    The Sanjak of Novi Pazar was an Ottoman Empire sanjak that existed until the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 in the territory of present day Serbia and Montenegro and serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija under UN jurisdiction....