Safed Sanjak (; ) was a sanjak (district) of Damascus Eyalet (Ottoman province of Damascus) in 1517–1660, after which it became part of the Sidon Eyalet (Ottoman province of Sidon). The sanjak was centered in Safed and spanned the Galilee, Jabal Amil and the coastal cities of Acre and Tyre. The city of Safed was made up of Muslim and Jewish townspeople, while the rest of the sanjak was populated by Sunni Muslims, Jewish peasants, Bedouin tribesmen, Shia Muslims and Druze peasants.
Territory and demographics
The territory of Safed Sanjak consisted of the area between the Zahrani River in the north to Mount Carmel (near Haifa) in the south, and the area between the Sea of Galilee in the east and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Besides Safed, it included the port cities of Acre and Tyre and the entire Galilee and Jabal Amil area. The district had a mixed population of peasants and Bedouin. The inhabitants of the Jabal Amil region were predominantly Shia Muslims, while the Galilee had a Sunni Muslim majority, including peasants and Bedouin, and a large Druze minority. The district also contained Jewish communities.
Administrative divisions
In the 16th century, the Safed Sanjak was divided into the following five nawahi (singular: nahiya; third-level administrative subdivisions) and a'mal (singular: amal; fourth-level administrative subdivisions): Nahiya of Jira — It roughly corresponded with the eastern Upper Galilee, surrounding the city of Safed. The name Jīra is likely a derivative of jār, Arabic for "neighbor", and the nahiya was previously known al-Zunnār, Arabic for "belt" because it surrounded Safed. Amal of Barr Safad Nahiya of Acre — It roughly corresponded with the western Upper Galilee. Amal of Acre Amal of Shaghur Amal of Buqei'a Nahiya of Tiberias — It roughly corresponded with the Lower Galilee, and part of the boundary separating it from the nahiya of Jira was the Wadi al-Rubudiyeh (Zalmon) stream. Amal of Tiberias Amal of Nazareth Amal of Marj Bani Amir — The amal included only part of the Jezreel Valley, the remaining part belonging to the Iqta of Turabay, which later became Lajjun Sanjak. Amal of Kafr Kanna Nahiya of Tibnin — It roughly corresponded with southeastern Jabal Amil and was alternatively called Bilad Bani Bishara. Bishara may have been an Ayyyubid officer who was granted the area as an iqta by Sultan Saladin, although Mamluk sources suggest the Banu Bishara were a Shia Muslim tribe which lived in the area. The boundary separating it from the nahiya of Acre to the south was the broad valley of Wadi al-Qarn, about south of the modern Israel–Lebanon border. Amal of Tibnin Amal of Marjayoun Amal of Jabal Amil Amal of Tyre Nahiya of Shaqif — It roughly corresponded with northeastern Jabal Amil, and the boundary separating it from the nahiya of Tibnin to the south by the Litani and Hasbani rivers. Amal of Shaqif
There is no available information about the administrative divisions of Safed Sanjak during the 17th century. By the 18th century, Safed Sanjak was divided into ten nawahi.
History
Administrative origins and Ottoman conquest
Before Ottoman rule, Safed was the capital of its own mamlaka (province) of the Cairo-based Mamluk Sultanate. Administrative information about Mamlakat Safad derives mainly from two sources: the qadi (Islamic head judge) of Safed in the 1370s, Shams al-Din al-Uthmani, and the Mamluk historian al-Qalqashandi, who based much of his material about Mamlakat Safad on al-Uthmani's work. Most of the information about the mamlaka covers the period between 1260 and 1418, while little is known for the last century of Mamluk rule before the Ottoman conquest following the Battle of Marj Dabiq in 1516. Travelers' accounts from the 15th century describe a general decline of the region around Safed precipitated by a famine, plagues, natural disasters and political chaos, and the flight of peasants from their villages to the main towns or their adoption of nomadism.
The Ottomans entered the territory of the mamlaka through the Daughters of Jacob Bridge and did not meet any resistance in or around Safed. They bypassed the city, setting up camps at the Daughters of Jacob's Bridge, Khan Jubb Yusuf, Khan al-Minya and Khan al-Tujjar, all located in the mamlaka, before proceeding to conquer Mamluk Egypt. While Selim I was in Egypt, rumors spread in Safed that he had been killed, spurring the townspeople to revolt against the Ottomans before being suppressed by the new authorities.