To paraphrase M. Sukru Hanioglu, “the Ottoman Empire rested on two central pillars: the provinces of Anatolia, and Eastern Rumelia.”

Beyond these two provinces, the Sultan and Sublime Porte (the bureaucracy) exerted very little direct control. Of course, the Imperial elite constantly sought to expand their direct authority across the entire Empire, and this often put them at odds with the powerheads of the periphery.

But, more to your question, who were these power-heads? Before 1826, Janissaries ruled a considerable amount of Levantine provinces including Egypt, Damascus, and Aleppo. After 1826 the Janissaries were systematticaly murdered, but they were quickly replaced by local warlords and notables in the urbanized Levant. In rural Levant, Transcaucasia, and the Arabian Peninsula , governance was dominated by tribal politics and Ottomans ruled literally in name only. “Name only” defines Ottoman rule in most of North Africa as well in the 1800s, especially after Europeans started to colonize. The European provinces outside Eastern Rumelia were autonomous for the most part, headed by local elites. Towards the end of the 19th century basically all of these autonomous provinces achieved independence, and Eastern Rumelia was reduced to a spit of land on the bootheel of Europe.

In a nutshell, the during the 19th and 20th centuries only Anatolia and parts of the Balkans were directly ruled (i.e. taxed and levied) by the Sultan. The strength of his edicts, and the revenue he collected, from the rest of the empire depended heavily on his personal relationship with the local powerhead.

All info comes from M. Sukru Hanioglu’s “A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire.”