Danube vilayet

The Vilayet of the Danube or Danubian Vilayet (Ottoman Turkish: ولايت طونه, romanized: Vilâyet-i Tuna; Bulgarian: Дунавска област, Dunavska(ta) oblast, more commonly Дунавски вилает, Danube Vilayet) was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire from 1864 to 1878. In the late 19th century it reportedly had an area of 34,120 square miles (88,400 km2).

The vilayet was created by merging the Eyalets of Niš, Vidin and Silistra (in its post-1826 borders, after losing all kazas south of the Balkan mountains that were spun off into the Edirne Vilayet). The Danube Vilayet was meant to become a model province, showcasing all the progress achieved by the Porte through the modernising Tanzimat reforms. Other vilayets modelled on the vilayet of the Danube were ultimately established throughout the empire by 1876, with the exception of the Arabian Peninsula and the by then semi-independent Egypt. Rusçuk, today Ruse in Bulgaria, was chosen as the capital of the vilayet due to its position as a key Ottoman port on the Danube.

The province disappeared after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, when its north-eastern part (Northern Dobruja) was incorporated into Romania, some of its western territories into Serbia, while the central and southern regions made up most of the autonomous Principality of Bulgaria and a part of Eastern Rumelia.

Borders and administrative divisions

Upon its establishment in 1864, the Danube Vilayet included the following sanjaks:

Sanjak of Tulcea

Sanjak of Varna

Sanjak of Ruse

Sanjak of Tărnovo

Sanjak of Vidin

Sanjak of Sofia

Sanjak of Niš

In 1868, the Sanjak of Niš was detached and made part of the Prizren Vilayet.

In 1876, the Sanjak of Niš and the Sanjak of Sofia were spun off into the short-lived Sofia Vilayet but were subsequently annexed to the Vilayets of Adrianople and Kosovo Vilayets only a year later, in 1877.

Government

Midhat Pasha was the first governor of the vilayet (1864–1868).