The Collaborative International Dictionary
Eyalet \E`ya*let"\, n. [Turk., fr. Ar. iy[=a]lah.] Formerly, one of the administrative divisions or provinces of the Ottoman Empire; -- now called a vilayet.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"province of the Turkish empire," 1869, from Turkish, from Arabic wilayah "province," from wali "governor," from waliya "he reigned, governed."
Wiktionary
n. One of the chief administrative divisions or provinces of the Ottoman Empire.
Wikipedia
The Vilayets of the Ottoman Empire were the first-order administrative division, or provinces, of the later empire, introduced with the promulgation of the Vilayet Law of 21 January 1867. The reform was part of the ongoing administrative reforms that were being enacted throughout the empire, and enshrined in the Imperial Edict of 1856. The reform was at first implemented experimentally in the Danube Vilayet, specially formed in 1864 and headed by the leading reformist Midhat Pasha. The reform was gradually implemented, and not until 1884 was it applied to the entirety of the Empire's provinces.
Usage examples of "vilayet".
Sanjak of Novi Bazar, the Muersteg Agreement, the Komitadje bands, the Vilayet of Adrianople, all those familiar outlandish names and things and places, that we have known so long as part and parcel of the Balkan Question, will have passed away into the cupboard of yesterdays, as completely as the Hansa League and the wars of the Guises.
A considerable portion of Macedonia, the districts of Pirot and Vranya belonging to Servia, the northern half of the vilayet of Adrianople, and large tracts of the Dobrudja, are, according to the best and most impartial authorities, mainly inhabited by a Bulgarian population.
That henpecked monarch, instead of strangling his brother Teyaspa in the approved Turanian manner, has been prevailed upon to keep him cooped up in a castle deep in the Colchian Mountains, southeast of Vilayet, as a prisoner of the Zaporoskan brigand Gleg.
Knowing the penalty for failure, he had struck out for the wild stretch along the southwestern shore of Vilayet Sea where the Colchian Mountains came down to the water.
A lo largo de los siglos han presionado continuamente hacia el oeste, y ahora una de sus tribus bordea el extremo sur del gran mar interior -Vilayet y funda el reino de Turan en la orilla sudoeste.
The emerald at his ear and the thick gold chain about his neck named him captain of the vessel as surely as their twin queues named all four sailors of the Vilayet.