, the name given to an eyālet of the Ottoman empire, often called simply d̲j̲azāʾir and usually known to Europeans as the Vilayet of the Archipelago. It originated as the area under the administration of the Ḳapudan Pas̲h̲a, the sand̲j̲aḳ beyleri being known as deryā beyleri [see daryā-begi ] and serving with the fleet instead of with the army. At its greatest extent, in the 11th/17th century, it comprised most of the islands of the Aegean Sea, coast districts of Asia Minor and Greece, and for a time Cyprus, but never Crete. At first the Ḳapudan Pas̲h̲a, an official of two ṭug̲h̲s , governed ¶ the s…