Depopulacija jugoistočne Hercegovine izazvana turskim osvajanjem
The depopulation of south-eastern Herzegovina caused by the Turkish conquest

Summary/Abstract: It took more than hundred years from the first Turkish raids into south-eastern Herzegovina (1386) until the final fall of this region (1491). Throughout this period, Turkish presence was hanging as the proverbial sword of Damocles above south-eastern Herzegovina. The frightened local population fled to neighbouring countries and especially to the Republic of Dubrovnik. Many sources, especially those of Dubrovnik provenance, mention the flight of the south-eastern Herzegovina residents. Although news of the population leaving abound throughout the discussed period, numbers of refugees were consistently higher at the times of direct Turkish attacks, especially in the 1470s when Turks occupied most of Herzegovina. Refugees left behind them deserted settlements that Turks recorded in their earliest censuses (defters). According to the census from 1475/1477 in nahiyahs Blagaj, Dabar, Dubrava, Ljubinje, Popovo, Trebinje and Viduška, 50 or 35.2% of all visited settlements were recorded as ‘empty’. In addition to empty settlements and mezras, part of the population of surviving settlements was missing, as indicated by un- or under-exploited, neglected (vegetable) gardens and vineyards as well as production facilities. While there were many deserted settlements and mezras, and while many surviving settlements suffered a population loss, the Republic of Dubrovnik experienced a vast increase in population numbers in the fifteenth century. The Republic had around 20,000 residents in the first half of the fourteenth century only to reach, in the first half of the fifteenth century, the population number of 50-60,000 and finally (at the end of the fifteenth century) somewhere between 80,000 and 90,000. A conclusion that follows from looking at the deserted south-eastern Herzegovina and the overpopulated Republic of Dubrovnik in the late fifteenth century is that the colossal increase of the Dubrovnik population was a direct result of migrations from south-eastern Herzegovina, caused by Turkish plundering and conquests.

• Details
• Contents