Gallipoli (from Ancient Greek: Καλλίπολις, Kallípolis; Ottoman Turkish: گلیبولو Gelibolu) was always a site of particular strategic importance, as it controlled the Dardanelles straits.

Sultan Bayezid I (r. 1389–1402) refortified Gallipoli and strengthened its walls and harbour defences, but initially, the weak Ottoman fleet remained incapable of fully controlling passage of the Dardanelles, especially when confronted by the Venetians.

[1][2] In 1533, the new Eyalet of the Archipelago, which included most of the coasts and islands of the Aegean Sea, was created for Hayreddin Barbarossa, the Ottoman Navy's Kapudan Pasha (قپودان پاشا‎, chief admiral), and Gallipoli became the seat and capital province (pasha-sanjak, پاشا سنجاق) of the Archipelago, until the 18th century, when the Kapudan Pasha moved his seat to Istanbul.

Originally the sanjak of Gallipoli included wide parts of southern Thrace, from Küçükçekmece on the outskirts of Istanbul to the mouths of the Strymon River, and initially even Galata and Izmid (Nicomedia).

[3] According to a register of 1600, its districts (nahiyes) were: Gelibolu and Evreşe, Lemnos, Tasoz (Thasos), Miğal-kara (Malkara) and Harala, Abri, Keşan, Ipsala, and Gümülcine (Komotini).