Динамика на териториалното деление на провинция Румелия
Dynamics of the Territorial Division of Roumelia Province

Summary/Abstract: The study delineates the administrative division of the province (eyalet) of Rumelia in the late 18th – early 19th centuries. It aims to accomplish two tasks: first, to provide scholars, interested in Balkan history, with detailed information for its territorial organization – borders and subordination of the administrative units; second, to clarify the tendencies and specificities in territorial organization of the Ottoman provinces. The investigation is based on various sources: different types of Ottoman documents (court registers; lists of Ottoman kazas; registers from the first Ottoman census; geographical surveys, and etc.), as well as travel accounts and descriptions of the Ottoman Empire from West European authors in the early 19th century. As a result, it is revealed the process of fragmentation of the administrative units and diminution of their extent due to the need of strict state control; the transformation of some counties from one district (sancak) to another. It is illustrated also the flexibility of the Ottoman state towards the local specificities and pre-Ottoman traditions. Some peculiarities of Rumelian administrative division, such as pashaliks, merging of several sancaks, the status of the Albanian lands, and etc., are discussed. Thus, the study discloses some aspects of the Ottoman conception for organization of imperial space.

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