Native Name: | Eyālet-i Ḳarṣ |
Common Name: | Kars Eyalet |
Subdivision: | Eyalet |
Nation: | the Ottoman Empire |
Year Start: | 1580 |
Year End: | 1875 |
P1: | Safavid dynasty |
Flag P1: | Safavid Flag.svg |
S1: | Erzurum Vilayet |
Flag S1: | Flag of the Ottoman Empire.svg |
Image Map Caption: | The Kars Eyalet in 1609 |
Capital: | Kars |
The Eyalet of Kars[1] (Turkish, Ottoman (1500-1928);: ایالت قارص|translit=Eyālet-i Ḳarṣ)[2] was an eyalet (province) of the Ottoman Empire. Its reported area in the 19th century was 6212sqmi.
The town of Kars, which had been levelled to the ground by the Timur in 1368, was rebuilt as an Ottoman fortress in 1579 (1580 according to other sources) by Lala Mustafa Pasha, and became capital of an eyalet of six sanjaks and also a place of pilgrimage.[3] It was conquered by Shah Abbas in 1604 and rebuilt by the Turks in 1616.[3]
The size of the Kars garrison in 1640s was 1,002 Janissaries and 301 local recruits. Total 1,303 garrison.[4]
Sanjaks of Kars Eyalet in the 17th century:[5]