| Native Name: | İstanbul |
| Common Name: | Istanbul |
| Subdivision: | Vilayet |
| Nation: | the Ottoman Empire |
| Year Start: | 1878 |
| Year End: | 1922 |
| P1: | İstanbul Eyaleti |
| Flag P1: | Flag of the Ottoman Empire.svg |
| S1: | Istanbul Province |
| Flag S1: | Flag of Turkey.svg |
| Today: | Turkey |
| Stat Year1: | Muslim, 1914[1] |
| Stat Pop1: | 560,434 |
| Stat Year2: | Greek, 1914 |
| Stat Pop2: | 205,752 |
| Stat Year3: | Armenian, 1914 |
| Stat Pop3: | 82,880 |
| Stat Year4: | Jewish, 1914 |
| Stat Pop4: | 52,126 |
The Vilayet of Constantinople[2] or Istanbul (tr|Vilâyet-i İstanbul) was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire, encompassing the imperial capital, Constantinople (Istanbul).
It had a special organisation, as it was placed under the immediate authority of the Minister of Police (Zabtiye Naziri), who filled a role equivalent to the governor (wali) in other vilayets.[3]
It included Stamboul (the inner city, known in Turkish as Istanbul) and the quarters of Eyüp, Kassim Pacha, Pera and Galata, and all the suburbs from Silivri on the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea on the European side, and from Ghili on the Black Sea to the end of the Gulf of İzmit on the Asiatic side.[3]
In 1878, a provincial structure, with a governor (wāli) and provincial officers, was established to perform the same functions within Constantinople that provincial authorities performed elsewhere in the Empire.[4]
Sanjaks and kazas, circa 1877:[3]
| Istanbul vilayet 1914 population [5] | -- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --> | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Township | Muslim | % | Greek Orthodox | % | Armenian | % | Jewish | % | Others | % | Total | |||||
| Fatih (Downtown) | 279,056 | 72.1% | 64,287 | 16.6% | 28,095 | 7.3% | 13,441 | 3.5% | 2,013 | 0.5% | 386,892 | |||||
| 28,967 | 61.8% | 11,221 | 23.9% | 5,954 | 12.7% | 364 | 0.8% | 390 | 0.8% | 46,896 | ||||||
| 1,586 | 14.3% | 8,725 | 78.7% | 652 | 5.9% | 79 | 0.7% | 45 | 0.4% | 11,087 | ||||||
| 117,267 | 44.9% | 75,971 | 29.1% | 30,642 | 11.7% | 31,080 | 11.9% | 6,135 | 2.4% | 261,095 | ||||||
| 70,447 | 63.1% | 19,832 | 17.8% | 13,949 | 12.5% | 6,836 | 6.1% | 579 | 0.5% | 111,643 | ||||||
| 26,220 | 81.6% | 5,856 | 18.2% | 47 | 0.2% | 0 | 0.0% | 21 | 0.1% | 32,144 | ||||||
| 8,257 | 45.0% | 6,862 | 37.4% | 3,216 | 17.5% | 13 | 0.1% | 0 | 0.0% | 18,348 | ||||||
| 14,466 | 77.0% | 3,708 | 19.7% | 325 | 1.7% | 292 | 1.6% | 1 | 0.0% | 18,792 | ||||||
| 14,168 | 61.4% | 8,913 | 38.6% | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% | 23,081 | ||||||
| Total | 560,434 | 61.6% | 205,375 | 22.6% | 82,880 | 9.1% | 52,126 | 5.7% | 9,163 | 1.0% | 909,978 | |||||
| Armenians: 72,962 Gregorian and 9,918 Catholic. The province has a total population of 1,213 Protestants and 387 Greek Catholics. | ||||||||||||||||