Sanjak of Rhodes

The Sanjak of Rodos or Rhodes (Ottoman Turkish: Sancak-i/Liva-i Rodos; Greek: λιβάς/σαντζάκι Ρόδου) was a second-level Ottoman province (sanjak or liva) encompassing the Dodecanese or Southern Sporades islands, off the coast of Anatolia in the Eastern Mediterranean, with Rhodes as its centre.

After the Ottoman conquest of Rhodes from the Knights Hospitaller in 1522,[1] the island initially became the seat of a beylerbey, and was not subordinated to the Eyalet of the Archipelago as a sub-province (sanjak) until 1546.

[3] Rhodes apparently became the seat of the Kapudan Pasha (the chief admiral of the Ottoman Navy, who also served as governor of the Archipelago Eyalet) in the late 17th century.

[1][2] In 1912, the year the province was occupied by the Kingdom of Italy during the Italo-Turkish War, it comprised the kazas (districts) of Rodos itself, Kasot (Kasos), Mis (Kastellorizo), Sömbeki (Symi), Kerpe (Karpathos), and Istanköy (Kos).

[2] The islands were slated to be returned to the Ottoman Empire after the Treaty of Ouchy, but Italy took advantage of the outbreak of the Balkan Wars to continue its occupation.