Sivas Vilayet

The Vilayet of Sivas, ( Ottoman سیواس Sivas, Armenian Սեբաստիայի վիլայեթ ) was one of the provinces of the Ottoman Empire. It was one of the so-called Six Armenian vilayets. The capital of the province of Sivas was.

Geography

The vilayet was bounded on the east by the vilayet of Erzurum, the vilayet Mamuretül - Aziz in the southeast, from the Vilayet of Trebizond in the north and from the Angora vilayet it was bounded on the west.

These formed the historical regions of Armenia Minor and the Roman province of Armenia. The geographical predecessor of the vilayet of Sivas was the eyalet Rûm.

Population

At the end of the 19th century the population was recorded and Ottoman statistics were released. Overall, the province of Sivas had before the genocide of the Armenians in 1915 had a total population of 1170000-1470000. The majority of the population was Turkish, and the number of Armenians was 152000-200000, other minorities were Kurds, Cappadocia Greeks and Syrian Orthodox Christians. Most Armenians lived in the Sandžak Sivas. The provincial capital, the city of Sivas, had a population of 45,000, of whom more than a third of Armenians.

In 1914 the inhabitants were Muslim 939 735, 147 099 were Armenians and 75 324 were Greeks.

Administrative divisions

In the 19th century was the Sivas vilayet of four Sandschaks: Sanjak of Sivas, Tokat Sanjak, Sanjak of Amasya and Sanjak Schebin - Karahisar. This sanjak were further divided into Kazas.

During its history, the Vilayet of Sivas had initially three, later four, and finally seven Sanjak. These were Sivas, Arapgir, Amasya, Çorum and Canik. At the end of the 19th century, there were 47,691 villages in the Vilayet of Sivas.