A wilayah ( or wilāya, plural ; Urdu and , velâyat; ) is an administrative division, usually translated as "state", "province" or occasionally as "governorate". The word comes from the Arabic root "w-l-y", "to govern": a wāli—"governor"—governs a wālāya (or wilāya), "that which is governed". Under the Caliphate, the term referred to any constituent near-sovereign state. Use in specific countries In Arabic, wilayah is used to refer to the states of the United States, and the United States of America as a whole is called al-Wilāyāt al-Muttaḥidah al-Amrīkīyah, literally meaning "the American United States". North Africa and Middle East 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 muhafazah (governorate) and wilāyah (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 Uygur language as Vilayiti (). For the other, more numerous types of administrative divisions in Xinjiang, however, Uygur uses Russian loanwords like oblasti or rayoni, in common with other Xinjiang languages like Kazakh. Kenya and Tanzania In Kenya, 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 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 Philippines, the term Wilāya sin Lupa' Sūg refers to the province of Sulu, Philippines. 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 wilāyah. Most were subdivided into sanjaks. The current provinces of Turkey are called il in Turkish. DAESH The