Sidon Eyalet

Eyaleti Safed-Sayda-Beyrut
Eyalet of the Ottoman Empire
← 1660–1864 →   →
Sidon Eyalet in 1795
Capital		Safed (1660) Sidon (1660–1775) Acre (1775–1841)[1] Beirut (1841–1864)
History
•	Established	1660
•	Disestablished	1864
Today part of		Lebanon Israel

The Eyalet of Sidon (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت صیدا; Eyālet-i Ṣaydā‎),^[2] was an eyalet (also known as a beylerbeylik) of the Ottoman Empire. In the 19th century, the eyalet extended from the border with Egypt to the Bay of Kesrouan, including parts of modern Israel, Palestine and Lebanon.^[3]

Depending on the location of its capital, it was also known as the Eyalet of Safad, Beirut or Akka (Acre).^[3]

History

Ottoman rulers considered creating the Province as early as 1585. The districts of Beirut-Sidon and Safed (encompassing much of the Galilee) were united under the rule of Ma'nid Emir Fakhr-al-Din ibn Maan.^[4] The Province was briefly created during Fakhr-al-Din's exile in 1614–15, and recreated in 1660.^[4][5] The province continued to be subordinated in some ways, both in fiscal and political matters, to the Damascus province out of which it was created.^[4]

Despite conflicts in the 1660s, the Maan family "played the leading role in the management of the internal affairs of this eyalet until the closing years of the 17th century, perhaps because it was not possible to manage the province-certainly not in the sanjak of Sidon-Beirut-without them."^[6] The Maans were succeeded by the Shihab family in ruling Sidon-Beirut from the final years of the 17th century through the 19th century.^[6] The Maans were first recognized as "emirs" in 1592 when Fakhr al-Din Maan was made (honorary) governor of the sanjak of Safad, and both the Maans and the Shihabis were recognized by the Ottomans as incumbents of an only vaguely defined, only implicitly "Druze" emirate. They never actually exercised any administrative function beyond that of multazim (tax farmer) over several mountain districts in the eyalet of Sidon (the Shuf). In 1763 the Shihabis were also invested with tax farms in the eyalet of Tripoli that had formerly been held by the Shiite Hamada family, which marks the beginning of the "emirate"'s sovereignty over the whole of Mt Lebanon.

In 1775, when Jezzar Ahmed Pasha received the governorship of Sidon, he moved the capital to Acre.^[7] In 1799, Acre resisted a siege by Napoleon Bonaparte.^[7]

19th century

As part of the Egyptian–Ottoman War of 1831–33, Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt took Acre after a severe siege on May 27, 1832. The Egyptian occupation intensified rivalries between Druzes and Maronites, as Ibrahim Pasha openly favoured Christians in his administration and his army.^[8] In 1840, the governor of Sidon moved his residence to Beirut, effectively making it the new capital of the eyalet.^[9] After the return to Ottoman rule in 1841, the Druzes dislodged Bashir III al-Shihab, to whom the sultan had granted the title of emir.^[8]

In 1842 the Ottoman government introduced the Double Kaymakamate, whereby Mount Lebanon would be governed by a Maronite appointee and the more southerly regions of Kisrawan and Shuf would be governed by a Druze. Both would remain under the indirect rule of the governor of Sidon.^[8] This partition of Lebanon proved to be a mistake. Animosities between the religious sects increased, and by 1860 they escalated into a full-blown sectarian violence.^[8] In the 1860 Lebanon conflict that followed, thousands of Christians were killed in massacres that culminated with the Damascus Riots of July 1860.^[8]

Following the international outcry caused by the massacres, the French landed troops in Beirut and the Ottomans abolished the unworkable system of the Kaymakamate and instituted in its place the Mutasarrifate of Mount Lebanon, a Maronite-majority district to be governed by non-Lebanese Christian mutasarrıf, which was the direct predecessor of the political system that continued to exist in Lebanon's early post-independence years.^[8] The new arrangement ended the turmoil, and the region prospered in the last decades of the Ottoman Empire.^[8]

Governors

Governors of the eyalet:^[10][11][12]

Administrative divisions

Sidon Eyalet consisted of two sanjaks in the 17th century:

1. Sidon-Beirut Sanjak
2. Safad Sanjak

Sidon Eyalet consisted of seven sanjaks (districts) in the early 19th century:^[14]

1. Acre Sanjak
2. Beirut Sanjak
3. Sidon Sanjak
4. Tyre Sanjak
5. Nablus Sanjak
6. Nazareth Sanjak
7. Tabariah Sanjak

See also

• Sidon
• Mount Lebanon Emirate
• History of Lebanon under Ottoman rule

References

Administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire
c. 1365 – 1867 (eyalets) Africa Algiers Egypt Habesh Tripolitania Tunis Anatolia Adana Aidin Anatolia Ankara Childir Diyarbekir Dulkadir Erzurum Hüdavendigâr Karaman Kars Kastamonu Rum Trebizond Van Europe Adrianople Archipelago Bosnia Budin Crete Egir Herzegovina Kanije Kefe Morea Niš Podolia Rumelia Salonica Silistra Temeşvar Uyvar Varat Widdin Yanina Middle East Aleppo Baghdad Basra Cyprus Damascus Lahsa Mosul Rakka Shahrizor Sidon Tripoli Yemen
1867–1922 (vilayets and mutasarrıfates) Africa Tripolitania Anatolia Adana Aidin Ankara Archipelago Bitlis Diyarbekir Erzurum Hüdavendigâr Kastamonu Konya Mamuret-ul-Aziz Sivas Trebizond Van Europe Adrianople Bosnia Constantinople Crete Danube Janina Kosovo Manastir Salonica Scutari Middle East Aleppo Baghdad Basra Beirut Hejaz Jerusalem Mosul Mount Lebanon Syria Yemen
Vassals and autonomies Vassals Cossack Hetmanate Crimean Khanate Khanate of Kazan Principality of Moldavia Sharifate of Mecca Republic of Ragusa Serbian Despotate Duchy of Syrmia Principality of Transylvania Principality of Wallachia Principality of Romania Principality of Serbia Principality of Bulgaria Kingdom of Imereti Septinsular Republic Ottoman Ukraine Autonomies Cretan State Khedivate of Egypt Eastern Rumelia Principality of Samos
See also the list of short-lived Ottoman provinces