Hejaz vilayet
The Vilayet of the Hejaz (Arabic: ولاية الحجاز Wilayat al-Ḥijāz; Ottoman Turkish: ولايت حجاز Vilâyet-i Hicaz) refers to the Hejaz region of Arabia when it was administered as a first-level province (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire. At the beginning of the 20th century, it reportedly had an area of 96,500 square miles (250,000 km2). The Hejaz included all land from the southern border of the Vilayet of Syria, south of the city of Ma‛an, to the northern border of the Vilayet of Yemen, north of the city of Al Lith.
| Vilayet of the Hejaz ولاية الحجاز (Arabic) ولايت حجاز (Ottoman Turkish) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire | |||||||||
| 1872–1916 | |||||||||
The Hejaz Vilayet in 1900 | |||||||||
the Vilayet's subdivisions in 1910 | |||||||||
| Capital | Mecca Taif (summer residence) | ||||||||
| Demonym | Hejazi | ||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
• 1914 | 250,000 km2 (97,000 sq mi) | ||||||||
| Population | |||||||||
• 1914 | 300,000 | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Vilayet Law | 1872 | ||||||||
| 1908 | |||||||||
| 1916 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Saudi Arabia Jordan | ||||||||
Despite its lack of natural resources, the region had great political importance as the cradle of Islam and was a source of legitimacy for the Ottomans' rule. Subsidies provided by the state and zakat were the main source of income for the population of the two holy cities, but trade generated by the hajj was also an important source of revenue.
The Ottoman regular force in Hejaz was constituted as a fırka (division), attached to the Seventh Army in Yemen. Outside of cities and towns, Ottoman authority was weak. Only Medina and Jeddah had permanent garrisons.