Sanjak of Sofia The Sanjak of Sofia (, ) was one of the sanjaks of the Ottoman Empire which county town

was Sofia. It was founded in 1393 and disestablished in 1878 with establishment of the Principality of Bulgaria. Administration The Sanjak of Sofia was established around 1393.[1] Initially it had two nahiyahs: Znepolje and Visok.[2] Its first sanjakbey was Ince Balaban, also referred to as 'the conqueror of Sofia'.[3] One of its sanjakbeys was Malko o lu Ali Bey, a member of the Malko o lu family, who died in 1514.[4] Soon after establishment of this sanjak Sofia became the seat of the Rumelia Eyalet. [5] Although beglerbegs of Rumelia in early periods sometimes stayed in Bitola, Sofia remained the seat and center of Rumelia Eyalet.[6] Since it was a seat of the Rumelian beglerbey Sanjak of Sofia had status of Pasha Sanjak (), the main sanjak of Elayet.[7][8] The Sanjak of Sofia and its 50 timars were registered for tax purposes in 1446 and 1455, and also in 1488/1489 and 1491.[3][9] In 1520's around 6.1% of total number of population (25,910) of the Sanjak of Sofia were Muslims.[10][11] At the end of 16th and beginning of 17th century Ni belonged to the Sanjak of Sofia.[12] At the end of 18th century it was under frequent attacks by Osman Pazvantoglu.[13] In period 1846 1864 Sanjak of Sofia belonged to Ni Eyalet[14] while in period 1864 1878 it belonged to Danube Vilayet.[15] At that time it had the following kazas: Sofia, Kyustendil, Samokov, Dupnica, Radomir, Zlatica, Orhanie and D umaja.[16] * Kosovo Vilayet The Vilayet of Kosovo (;[1] ; ; Macedonian: , Kosovski vilaet; Serbian: , Kosovski vilajet) was a vilayet of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkan Peninsula which included the current territory of Kosovo and the western part of the Republic of Macedonia. The areas today comprising Sand ak (Ra ka) region of Serbia and Montenegro, although de jure under Ottoman control, were in fact under Austro- Hungarian occupation from 1878 until 1909, as provided under Article 25 of the Treaty of Berlin. [2] Uskub (Skopje) functioned as the capital of the province and the mid way point between Istanbul and its European provinces. Uskub's population of 32,000 made it the largest city in the province, followed by Prizren, also numbering at 30,000. The Vilayet stood as a microcosm of Ottoman society; incorporated within its boundaries were diverse groups of peoples and religions: Albanians, Serbs, Bosniaks; Muslims and Christians, both Orthodox and Catholic. The province was renowned for its craftsmen and important cities such as pek (today's Pe , Albanian: Peja), where distinct Ottoman architecture and public baths were erected, some of which can still

be seen today. The birthplace of the Albanian national identity was first articulated in Prizren, by the League of Prizren members in 1878. As a result firstly of the Treaty of San Stefano in 1878, then of the modified Treaty of Berlin the same year which split the Ottoman Empire, Kosovo became the first line of defense for the Ottoman Empire, with large garrisons of Ottoman troops being stationed in the province. Prior to the First Balkan War in 1912, the province's shape and location denied Serbia and Montenegro a common land border. After the war, the major part of the vilayet was divided between Montenegro and Serbia. These borders were all ratified at the Treaty of London in 1913[3] with the Ottoman Empire itself finally recognising the new borders following a peace deal with the Kingdom of Serbia on March 14, 1914.[4] Contents History Demographics Administrative divisions Governors Notes and references Literature External links -------------------------------------------------------------------------------History The vilayet of Kosovo was created in 1877, and consisted of a much larger area than modern Kosovo, as it also included the sanjak of Novi Pazar, the sanjak of Nis (until 1878), the region around Plav and Gusinje as well as the Dibra region.[5] These regions had belonged to the eyalet of Nis, the eyalet of Skopje and, after 1865, the Danube Vilayet. In 1868 the Vilayet of Prizren was created with the sanjaks of Prizren, Dibra, Skopje and Nis, but it ceased to exist in 1877.[5] Kosovo encompassed the Sand ak region cutting into present-day Central Serbia and Montenegro along with the Kuk s municipality and surrounding region in present-day northern Albania. Between 1881 and 1912 (its final chapter), it was internally expanded to include other regions of present-day Republic of Macedonia, including larger urban settlements such as tip ( tip), Kumanovo (Kumanova) and Kratovo (Kratova) (see map). The province's boundaries shifted as the Ottoman Empire lost territory to neighboring states in the Treaty of Berlin following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 1878 and parts were also internally transferred to Monastir Vilayet and from Salonica Vilayet. In 1878, the Sanjak of Novi Pazar, a subdivision of the Province of Kosovo, fell under Austro-Hungarian occupation in accord with the Berlin treaty which also allowed the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. There it would remain until 1908. Demographics

There have been a number of estimates about the ethnicity and the religious affiliation of the local population. The population of the province was ethnically heterogeneous. Many were Albanians. [6] An Austrian statistics published in 1899 estimated:[7] 182,650 Albanians (47.88%) 166,700 Serbs (43.7%) According to Ottoman yearbooks, in 1901, the Kosovo vilayet which encompassed five sanjaks: Skopje, Pri tina, Prizren, Novi Pazar, and Pljevlja had 964,657 inhabitants; two thirds were Muslims and one third was Christian. The Muslims were primarily Albanians and the Christians were mostly Serbs. The yearbooks, however, are deemed unreliable sources as they, in some districts, did not register the female population, but balanced the numbers against the male population, though it is a well known fact that the number of male heads exceeded the number of female heads throughout this period not only in those lands but in Serbia Proper as well.[8] British journalist H. Brailsford estimated in 1906[9] that two-thirds of the population of Kosovo was Albanian and one-third Serbian. The most populous western districts of akovica and Pe were said to have between 20,000 and 25,000 Albanian households, as against some 5,000 Serbian ones. A map of Alfred Stead,[10] published in 1909, shows that similar numbers of Serbs and Albanians were living in the territory. A publication from December 21, 1912 in the Belgian magazine Ons Volk Ontwaakt (Our Nation Awakes) estimated 827,100 inhabitants:[11] Muslim Albanians - 418,000 Christian Bulgarians - 250,000 Orthodox Serbs - 113,000 Mixed - 22,000 Muslim Bulgarians - 14,000 Muslim Turks - 9,000 Orthodox Vlachs - 900 Orthodox Greeks - 200 <gallery> File:Kosovo03.png|Map of the Vilayet of Kossovo within the Balkans File:Ernst-Ravenstein-Balkans-Ethnic-Map-1880.jpg|Ethnographic map of the Balkans in the end of the 19th century File:Kosovo02.png|Vilayet of Kosovo, 18751878 </gallery> <gallery> File:Balkans at 1905.jpg|Map of the Vilayet of Kossovo within the Ottoman Empire (1905) File:RizMap19.jpg|Ethnographic map of the Balkans by G. Lejean, 1861. File:Balkans-ethnic (1877).jpg|Ethnographic map of the Balkans by the pro-Greek[12] A. Synvet of 1877, a French professor of the Ottoman Lyceum of Constantinople. </gallery> Administrative divisions Sanjaks of the Vilayet:[13] Sanjak of sk b Sanjak of Pri tine

Sanjak of Seni e Sanjak of Dukagjin Sanjak of Taslica Sanjak of Prizren Governors The governors (Vali) of the province were: 1819-1893 : Ibrahim Edhem Pasha Held office from (5 February 1877 11 January 1878) 1894-1899 : Hafiz Mehmed Pasha 1900-1902 : Reshad Bey Pasha 1903-1904 : Shakir Pasha Numan 1905-1907 : Mehmed Shefket Pasha . . . . 1908 : Hadi Pasha 1909-1910 : Mazhar Bey Pasha . . . . 1911 : Halil Bey Pasha . . . . 1912 : Ghalib Pasha Notes and references Notes: a. References Literature S reti defter-i sancak-i Arvanid, H. Inalcik, Ankara 1954. (Turkish) S reti defter-i esami vilayeti Dibra, f. 124-176, Ba bakanl k Ar ivi, maliyeden m dever, nr.508. (Turkish) Regjistri turk i vitit 1485* - Prof. As. Dr. David Luka (Albanian) A.F. Gilferding, Putovanje po Hercegovini, Bosni i Staroj Srbiji, Sarajevo, 1972, 241245 (Serbian) External links

The Guardian, February 2008

The Guardian, February 2008