ABSTRACT
Saljuq empire can be divided into those areas that were administered directly by the sultan and those that were governed indirectly. Direct administration of cities and agricultural land was perhaps something that did not come altogether naturally to the Saljuqs, with their Central Asian nomadic background. Such areas as were ruled directly tended, for obvious reasons of administrative convenience, to be concentrated near the various Saljuq capitals. The first capital was Nishapur, in the east. The greater part of the empire was governed indirectly. In the early years of Saljuq rule many of these areas were allowed to remain in the hands of the local families which had ruled them before the arrival of Toghril Beg. The dynasties included a number in the region of the Caspian Sea, though it is possible that this was a matter of making a virtue out of necessity.
