The Sanjak of Jerusalem was an Ottoman sanjak that formed part of the Damascus Eyalet for much of its existence. [1] It was created in the 16th century by the Ottoman Empire after it took over what is now called Israel following the 1516–1517 Ottoman–Mamluk War. [2] It was detached from the Syrian eyalet and placed directly under the Ottoman central government, first for a brief period in 1841, and again in 1854. [3] An independent province, the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, was created in 1872. [4] It ceased to exist in 1917 during the Great War as a result of British progress on the Middle Eastern front, [5] when it became a British-administered occupied territory. [6]