In Arabic,
wilaya is used to refer to the
states of the
United States, and the United States of America as a whole is called (), literally meaning "the American United States".
North Africa and West Asia For
Morocco, which is divided into provinces
and wilāyas, the translation "province" would cause the distinction to cease. For
Sudan, the term
state and for
Mauritania, the term
region is used. •
Provinces of Algeria •
Provinces of Oman •
Regions of Mauritania •
States of Sudan •
Governorates of Tunisia The
governorates of Iraq (
muhafazah) are sometimes translated as provinces, in contrast to official Iraqi documents and the general use for other Arab countries. This conflicts somehow with the general translation for
muḥāfaẓa (
governorate) and
wilāya (province).
China In the ethnically diverse
Xinjiang region of Northwest China, the seven undifferentiated
prefectures proper (; that is, not prefecture-level cities, autonomous prefectures, etc.) are translated into the
Uyghur language as (). For the other, more numerous types of
administrative divisions in Xinjiang, however, Uyghur uses Russian loanwords like
oblasti or
rayoni, in common with other Xinjiang languages like
Kazakh.
Kenya and Tanzania In Kenya and Tanzania, the term
wilaya is a
Swahili term which refers to the administrative districts into which provinces are divided. •
Districts of Kenya •
Districts of Tanzania Southeast Asia In
Malay (both in
Malaysian and
Indonesian standards) and
Tausug,
wilayah or
wilāya is a general word meaning "territory", "area" or "region". In
Thailand, it is the standard Malay term used to translate a "
province"". In
Malaysia, the term •
Wilayah Persekutuan, often shortened to "Wilayah" in colloquial speech, refers to the three
federal territories under direct control of the federal government:
Kuala Lumpur,
Labuan and
Putrajaya. •
Wilayah Ekonomi Pantai Timur, is translated as
East Coast Economic Region In the
Philippines, the term • ''Wilāya sin Lupa' Sūg'' refers to the province of
Sulu, Philippines. , Ottoman Empire (1900)
Ottoman Empire Traditionally the provinces of the
Ottoman Empire were known as
eyâlets, but beginning in 1864, they were gradually restructured as smaller
vilâyets—the Turkish pronunciation of the Arabic word
wilāya. Most were subdivided into
sanjaks. The current
provinces of Turkey are called
il in Turkish.
Islamic State The
territory under the governance of the
Islamic State (ISIS) is referred to them as officially being divided into
wilayah, often translated into English as "
province". An example is
Islamic State – Khorasan Province and
Islamic State - West Africa Province. Al-Shabaab Territory controlled by Al-Shabaab (officially the Islamic Emirate of Somalia) is broken down into
wilayas or local administrations.''''
Central Asia and Caucasus The
Classical Persian word for
province (
wilāyat) is still used in several similar forms in
Central Asian countries: •
Provinces of Afghanistan (,
wilāyat, plural: ولايتونه,
wilāyatuna), subdivided into
districts (,
wuləswāləi or ,
wolaswālī) •
Regions of Tajikistan (singular: viloyat, plural: viloyatho), subdivided into districts (,
nohiya or ,
raion) •
Regions of Turkmenistan (singular: welaýat, plural: welaýatlar), subdivided into districts () •
Regions of Uzbekistan (singular: viloyat, plural: viloyatlar), subdivided into districts () During the
Soviet period the divisions of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan were called
oblasts and
raions, using
Russian terminology. In the
Tsez language, the districts of
Dagestan are also referred to as "вилайат" (
wilayat), plural "вилайатйоби" (
wilayatyobi). But the term "район" (
rayon), plural "районйаби" (
rayonyabi) is also used.
Caucasus Emirate, a self-proclaimed successor state to the unrecognized
Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, is divided into vilayats.
South Asia The Classical Persian word for province (wilāyat) is still used in several similar forms in South Asian countries as well: (Pashto: ولايت, wilāyat, plural: ولايتونه, wilāyatuna), subdivided into districts (Pashto: ولسوالۍ, wuləswāləi or Persian: ولسوالی, wolaswālī) == See also ==