Sanjak of Preveza

The Sanjak of Preveza (Ottoman Turkish: Liva-i Preveze‎, Greek: Σαντζάκι Πρεβέζης) was a second-level Ottoman province (sanjak or liva) centred on the town of Preveze (Preveza) in southern Epirus, now part of Greece.

Sanjak of Preveza Ottoman Turkish: Liva-i Preveze
Sanjak of the Ottoman Empire
1863–1915
1907 Ottoman map of the Vilayet of Ioannina, with the Sanjak of Preveza in the bottom
Capital	Preveza
History
• Established	1863
• First Balkan War	1912–1913
• Establishment of Preveza Prefecture	1915
Preceded by Succeeded by Sanjak of Ioannina Preveza Prefecture
Today part of	Greece

Preveza had been a Venetian possession until 1797, as part of the Venetian Ionian Islands, when it was occupied by the French. Ali Pasha of Ioannina conquered the town in 1798, and made it part of his semi-autonomous domain until his fall in 1820.

Preveza remained part of the sanjak of Ioannina thereafter. It appears for the first time in the salname (provincial year-book) of 1863 as a separate sanjak of the Ioannina Eyalet, although in the next year it is recorded as a province of Tirhala. By 1867, joined with the sanjak of Narda (Arta), the new Sanjak of Preveze became part of Ioannina Vilayet. The region of Arta was ceded to Greece in 1881, and the remaining province survived until conquered by the Greek Army during the First Balkan War of 1912–1913.[1]

In 1912, it comprised two kazas (districts), those of Preveza itself and of Louros.[1] The Greek army occupied the area during the First Balkan War, but the administration and local officials were kept in place for a time, until the creation of the Preveza Prefecture by Royal Decree of 3/16 March 1915. The kazas were termed "sub-governorates" (υποδιοικήσεις), under governmental commissioners (διοικητικοί επίτροποι) nominated by the Governor-General of Epirus in Ioannina. The kaza of Margariti was merged with the kaza of Preveza during that time.[2]

References

1. Birken 1976, p. 74.
2. Nikolaidou 1987, pp. 517–518, 523.

Sources

• Birken, Andreas (1976). Die Provinzen des Osmanischen Reiches [The Provinces of the Ottoman Empire]. Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients, 13 (in German). Reichert. ISBN 3-920153-56-1.
• Nikolaidou, Eleftheria I. (1987). "Η οργάνωση του κράτους στην απελευθερωμένη Ήπειρο (1913-1914)" [State organization in liberated Epirus (1913-1914)]. Dodoni (in Greek). Ioannina: History and Archaeology Department of the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Ioannina. 16 (1): 496–610.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)