Rumelia

Coordinates: 41°00′00″N 21°20′00″E / 41.0000°N 21.3333°E / 41.0000; 21.3333
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Map of Rumelia in 1801

Rumelia (

Southeastern Europe that was administered by the Ottoman Empire, roughly corresponding to the Balkans. In its wider sense, it was used to refer to all Ottoman possessions and vassals in Europe. These would later be geopolitically classified as "the Balkans", although the inclusion of countries such as Hungary and Romania has varied over time.[1][2][3] During the period of its existence, it was more often known in English as Turkey
in Europe.

Etymology

Map of Rumelia in 1795

Serbo-Croatian: Румелија, Rumelija; as well Romanian: Rumelia. The old Latin documents in Genoa use the term Romania, the common name for the Byzantine Empire during the Middle Ages.[4]

Originally, the

Rûm" (Romans) to define Anatolia, which the armies of the Seljuk Empire gradually conquered from the Byzantine Empire after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. The Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate was called the Sultanate of Rum by its contemporaries, meaning the "Sultanate of the Roman Empire" or "Roman Sultanate", which mostly covered central Anatolia until the Battle of Köse Dağ in 1243. Anatolia was referred to as Land of the Christians, hence Rum. Afterwards, it was replaced by the Anatolian beyliks, among which the Ottoman Beylik rose to prominence in the 14th and 15th centuries and eventually became the Ottoman Empire
.

However, following the

Mehmed II, the term Rumeli came to apply exclusively to the Balkan region of the Ottoman Empire. The region remained primarily populated by Christians; though gradually, the Albanians, Bosniaks and Pomaks, as well as many Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians and Vlachs converted to Islam
.

Many

were originally from Rumelia.

Geography

.

Rumelia included the provinces of Thrace, Macedonia and Moesia, which are now Bulgaria and Turkish Thrace, bounded to the north by the rivers Sava and Danube, west by the Adriatic coast and south by the Morea. In the beginning the main town was the city of Plovdiv, then Sofia.[5] The name "Rumelia" was ultimately applied to a province composed of central Albania and northwestern Macedonia, with Bitola being the main town.

Following the

Kosovo Vilayet was created in 1877.[7]

In

Bosphorus
strait.

See also

Notes

  1. Eastern Orthodox Christians and more specifically Christians from the Byzantine rite

References

  1. ^ Juhász, József (2015). "Hungary and the Balkans in the 20th Century — From the Hungarian Perspective". Prague Papers on the History of International Relations: 115 – via CEJSH. After 1918, with the massive reduction of Hungary's territory and influence, many Western observers held Hungary to be one of the nations of the Balkans. But Hungary never regarded itself as part of that region, especially since the term 'Balkans' carried negative connotations.
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  5. ^ .
  6. .
  7. .

Sources

External links

41°00′00″N 21°20′00″E / 41.0000°N 21.3333°E / 41.0000; 21.3333

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