[f. SULTAN sb. + -ATE1. Cf. F. sultanat.]
1. A state or country subject to a soltan; the territory ruled over by a sultan.
1879. A. R. Wallace, Australasia, xvii. 336–7. Next in importance and civilisation is the independent sultanate of Achin.
1880. K. Johnston, Lond. Geogr., 392. The island of Zanzibar, which forms a central point of the Sultanate.
2. The office or power of a sultan.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 29 Dec., 1/1. The shadow of the Sultanate is not favourable to the growth of capable successors.
1896. Marq. Salisbury, in Times, 10 Nov., 5/1. It is through the channel of the Sultanate, and through that alone, that we can hope to convey to the Christians and Moslems of the Turkish Empire some slight portion of that good government which has been the privilege of the West for so long.
