The vilâyet of Van lay along the Persian frontier between the vilâyets of Erzurum and Mosul. The northern sanjak comprised open plateau country N. and E. of the lake (with a large Armenian agricultural population and Kurdish seminomad tribes occupied chiefly in cattle and sheep raising), also of several fertile districts along the south shore of the lake. The southern sanjak was entirely mountainous, little developed and having the tribes only partly under government control. This comprised most of the upper basin of the Great Zab, with the country of the Nestorian Christians and many districts inhabited by Kurdish tribes, some of them large nomad tribes who descended for the winter to the plains of the Tigris.

The mineral wealth of the vilâyet was never fully explored, but was believed to be great. There were petroleum springs at Kordzot, deposits of lignite at Sivan and Nurduz, several hot springs at Zilan Deresi and Julamerk. Excellent tobacco was grown in Shemsdinan for export to Persia.