Sanjak of Sofia

The Sanjak of Sofia (Turkish: Sofia Sancağı, Bulgarian: Софийски санджак) was one of the sanjaks of the Ottoman Empire which county town was Sofia. It was founded in 1393 and disestablished after the creation of the Principality of Bulgaria in 1878.

Sanjak of Sofia
Sofia Sancağı
Софийски санджак
sanjak of the Ottoman Empire
ca. 1393–1878
CapitalSofia
Population 
• 1520s
25,910
History 
• Established
ca. 1393
• Treaty of Berlin (1878)
13 July 1878
Preceded by		Succeeded by
Second Bulgarian Empire
Principality of Bulgaria
Today part ofBulgaria

History and 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 Malkoçoğlu Ali Bey, a member of the Malkoçoğlu family, who died in 1514.[4]

Soon after the establishment of the sanjak, Sofia became the seat of the Rumelia Eyalet.[5] Although the beglerbegs of Rumelia in early periods sometimes stayed in Bitola, Sofia remained the seat and center of the Rumelia Eyalet.[6] Since it was a seat of the Rumelian beglerbey, the Sanjak of Sofia had a status of Pasha Sanjak (Turkish: Paşa Sancağı), or the main sanjak of the 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 the 1520s around 6.1% of the total population (25,910) of the Sanjak of Sofia were Muslims.[10][11] At the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century Niš belonged to the Sanjak of Sofia.[12]

At the end of the 18th century it was under frequent attacks by Osman Pazvantoglu.[13] In the period 1846-1864 the Sanjak of Sofia belonged to the Niš Eyalet[14] while from 1864 to 1878 it belonged to the Danube Vilayet.[15] At that time it had the following kazas: Sofia, Kyustendil, Samokov, Dupnica, Radomir, Zlatica, Orhanie and Džumaja.[16]

Disestablishment

After the decisions of the Berlin Congress were signed on 13 July 1878, the Sanjak of Sofia was merged with Northern Bulgaria into the Principality of Bulgaria, a de facto independent vassal of the Ottoman Empire, except for the kaza of Džumaja (also called Cuma-i Bala), which was passed to the newly founded Sanjak of Gümülcine.[17]

References
  1. Godisnjak. Drustvo Istoricara Bosne i Hercegovine, Sarajevo. 1950. p. 174. Санџак Софија Овај је санџак основан око г. 1393.
  2. Études balkaniques. Édition de lA̕cadémie bulgare des sciences. 1998. p. 148.
  3. Gradeva, Rosit︠s︡a (2004). Rumeli under the Ottomans, 15th-18th centuries: institutions and communities. Isis Press. p. 34.
  4. Resimli-haritalı mufassal Osmanlı tarihi: Bir heyet tarafından yazılmıştır. İskit Yayını. 1957. p. 734.
  5. Godisnjak. Drustvo Istoricara Bosne i Hercegovine, Sarajevo. 1950. p. 174. Ту је врло рано пренесено сједиште румелиског ејалета
  6. Godisnjak. Drustvo Istoricara Bosne i Hercegovine, Sarajevo. 1950. p. 173.
  7. Djela. Akademija nauka i umjetnosti Bosne i Hercegovine. Odjeljenje istorijsko-filoloških nauka. 1967. p. 188. u Paša-sandžaku (Sofijski sandžak)
  8. Glasnik Hrvatskih zemaljskih muzeja u Sarajevu. Sarajevo, Independent State of Croatia: Hrvatskih zemaljski muzeji. 1942. p. 337. Točno je međutim, da je Paša sandžak Sofijski Sandžak. Sofija je bila sjedište rumelijskoga beglerbega kome su kao paši bila direktno podvrgnuta 52 kadiluka sofijskoga i raznih drugih susjednih sandžaka i sačinjavali tzv. Pašovski sandžak.
  9. Balkan Studies. The Institute. 1967. p. 207.
  10. Minkov, Anton (2004), Conversion to Islam in the Balkans : Kisve bahası petitions and Ottoman social life, 1670-1730, Ottoman Empire and its heritage, 30, Boston: Brill, p. 49, ISBN 9789047402770, OCLC 191947039
  11. Zlatar, Zdenko (2007). The poetics of Slavdom. Peter Lang. p. 750. For instance, in the sancak of Sofia, out of 25,910 hearths, 24,341 belonged to the Christians, i.e. 94% and 1,569 or 6% to the Muslims.
  12. Mirčetić, Dragoljub (1994). Vojna istorija Niša: deo 1. Od najstarijih vremena do prvog srpskog ustanka. deo 2. U sredjem veku (700-1459). deo 3. U razdoblju Turske vlasti (1459-1878). Prosveta. p. 139. Крајем XVI и у првој половини XVII века, кадилук Ниш припадао је Софијском санцаку
  13. The unification of Greece, 1770-1923. Benn. 1972. p. 16. By the end of the eighteenth century the over-mighty vassal Ali Pasha had extended his power over Albania and parts of Macedonia and Greece, while another pasha, Pasvanoglou, held sway in and around the sanjak of Sofia
  14. The three eras of Ottoman history, a political essay on the late reforms of ..., p. 75, at Google Books By James Henry Skene
  15. International Journal of Turkish Studies. University of Wisconsin. 2008. p. 64.
  16. Revue Bulgare D'histoire. 10. Publishing House of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. 1982. p. 82. Sanjak Sofia (the town of Sofia and kaazi: Kjustendil, Samokov, Dupnica, Radomir, Zlatica, Orhanie and Dzumaja)
  17. Genchev, Nikolaĭ (1977). The Bulgarian national revival period. Sofia Press. p. 192. In accordance with the decision of the Berlin Congress adopted on July 1, 1878 the Bulgarian Principality, comprising the territories of northern Bulgaria and the sanjak of Sofia, was to be a dependency of the Ottoman Empire.

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