dimogerontia
Communal authority consisting of the elected community officials, known as archontes (potentates), proestoi (notables), epitropoi (wardens), dimogerontes or simply gerontes (elders).

kaymakamlık
Ottoman administrative unit that replaced the kaza during the late Ottoman Period, after the administrative reforms of 1864.

müdürlük
Small administrative unit in the late Ottoman Empire, subdistrict of a kaymakamlık, under the jurisdiction of a müdür.

muhtar
Elected communal official, head of a quarter or a village community.

mutasarrıf
Ottoman official of the provincial administration, the governor of a mutasarrıflık.

mutasarrıflık
A medium-sized Ottoman administrative unit that replaced the sancak during the Late Ottoman Period, after the administrative reforms of 1864.

tanzimat
The 19th-century reforms in the Ottoman Empire, which were inaugurated in 1839 with the edict of Hatt-i Şerif and came to an end with the Constitution of 1876. The reforms, which were considered an effort for the modernization and liberalization of the state, concerned every aspect of the political, social and economic life in the Empire. Of particular importance were the ones that equated legally Muslim and non-Muslim subjects.

vilayet (valilik)
The larger administrative unit in the Ottoman provincial administration system. The large provinces of the Ottoman Empire were previously called eyalet. The new regulation of 1864 introduced the vilayet as an equivalent of the French départment - albeit of smaller size. The governor of the vilayet was called vali and had extensive authority.