Ottoman Vardar Macedonia
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Vardar Macedonia, the area that now makes up the Republic of Macedonia, was part of the Ottoman Empire for roughly five hundred years, from 1395 to 1912.[1][2]
Contents
History
Conquests
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In the Battle of Maritsa of 1371, the King of Lordship of Prilep Vukašin Mrnjavčević and his brother Jovan Uglješa led 70,000 men against the Ottomans. Despite having smaller numbers, the Ottomans managed to kill Vukašin and his brother and win the Battle of Maritsa.[3]
After the battle, most of Serbia broke into smaller principalities. One of those principalities is known as the Kingdom of Prilep, led by Vukašin's son Marko.[4] Like most regional rulers in Macedonia, Marko accepted vassalage under Sultan Murad I to preserve his position.
The Battle of Kosovo of 1389 sealed the fate of Macedonia for the next 500 years. While both armies lost leaders and large numbers of soldiers, the Ottomans could easily assemble another army just as large while the locals could not.
Marko died alongside Konstantin Dragaš at the Battle of Rovine in 1395 and the territory of his realm became the Sanjak of Ohrid.[5][6]
All of Vardar Macedonia was under Ottoman control by the end of the 14th century, with Skopje falling under Turkish rule on January 19, 1392.[1][7] Aside from conflict with Skanderbeg's forces, in which areas of western part of Macedonia became a battleground of Ottoman-Albanian war for more than 20 years (1444-1467), the Ottoman Empire ultimately succeeded in taking the region.[8]
Five hundred years of Ottoman rule
During the Ottoman rule of the Balkans, cities experienced many changes with regards to the demographic makeup of their population and the look of their cityscapes. With laws that prohibited Christian buildings from being higher than Islamic ones, the skylines of cities like Skopje and Bitola were dominated by minarets.[9]
Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi visited the city of Bitola in 1661. He wrote that of the seven mosques in the city at the time, six were built in the 16th century. Most of the mosques constructed on the territory of today's Republic of Macedonia were square in shape with a three-domed portico and a minaret on the building's right side.[10]
Macedonian cities under Ottoman rule
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Ottoman Bitola in the 1800s
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Prilepstreet.png
Prilep at the end of the 19th century
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Skopje stara 2.jpg
Minarets in the Ottoman Skopje skyline
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Štip-Ottoman-Birdeye.jpg
Ottoman Štip
Balkan Wars
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The Balkan Wars consisted of two wars that occurred in 1912 and 1913. The first began on 8 October 1912 when the nations of the Balkan League, who had large parts of their ethnic populations under Ottoman rule, attacked the Ottoman Empire. It lasted seven months with the Balkan League nations coming up victorious, ending 500 years of Ottoman rule in the Balkans.[1]
Administrative divisions
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From the time that Macedonia first became part of the Ottoman Empire to the mid-19th century, it was located in the eyalet of Rumelia.
Vilayets
After administrative reform in 1860s, the Ottoman Empire was divided into vilayets which were subdivided into sanjaks.
Kosovo Vilayet
The northern part of the Macedonian region was included in the Kosovo Vilayet. Sanjaks located in this vilayet that contained territory now within the Republic of Macedonia were:
- Sanjak of Skopje, which included the nahiye of Skopje, Kumanova (Kumanovo), İştip (Štip), Kratova (Kratovo), and Koçana (Kočani).
- Sanjak of Prizren, which included the nahiye of Kalkandelen (Tetovo).
Monastir Vilayet
The southwestern part of the region was located in the Monastir vilayet. Sanjaks located in this vilayet that contained territory now within the Republic of Macedonia were:
- Sanjak of Monastir, which included Bitola, Ohri (Ohrid), Resne (Resen), and Pirlepe (Prilep)
- Sanjak of Dibra, which included Debar and Kiçevo (Kičevo)
Salonika Vilayet
The southeastern part of Macedonia was located in the Salonika vilayet. Sanjaks located in this vilayet that contained territory now within the Republic of Macedonia were:
- Sanjak of Selanik, which included Tikveş (Kavadarci), Usturumca (Strumica), Köprülü (Veles), Doyran (Dojran), and Gevgili (Gevgelija)
See also
- History of the Republic of Macedonia
- History of the Balkans
- Old Bazaar, Skopje
- Ottoman era in the history of Bulgaria
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Cite error: Invalid
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- ↑ Sedlar, Jean W., East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500, (University of Washington Press, 1994), 385.
- ↑ The last centuries of Byzantium, (1261-1453) by Donald MacGillivray Nicol
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- ↑ Marinus Barletius: Historia de vita et gestis Scanderbegi Epirotarum principis
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External links
- The book on Marko Kraljevic - Marko, The King's Son - Hero of The Serbs by Clarence A. Manning, O. Muiriel Fuller, illustrated by Alexander Key
