Danube vilayet explained

Native Name:Turkish, Ottoman (1500-1928);: ولايت طونه
Vilâyet-i Tûna
Bulgarian: Дунавска област
Common Name:Danube Vilayet
Subdivision:Vilayet
Nation:the Ottoman Empire
Year Start:1864
Year End:1878
Event Start:Vilayet Law
Event End:Congress of Berlin
P1:Nis Eyalet
P2:Vidin Eyalet
P3:Ozu Eyalet
S1:Principality of Bulgaria
Flag S1:Flag of Bulgaria.svg
S2:Principality of Serbia
Flag S2:Flag of Serbia (1835–1882).svg
S3:Kingdom of Romania
Flag S3:Flag of Romania.svg
S4:Eastern Rumelia
Flag S4:Flag of Eastern Rumelia.svg
Image Map Caption:The Danube Vilayet in 1877
Capital:Rusçuk
Stat Year1:1864
Stat Pop1:1,995,000[1]
Today:Romania
Serbia
Bulgaria
Conventional Long Name:Vilayet of the Danube
Title Leader:Governor
Leader1:Hafiz Ahmed Midhat Shefik Pasha
Year Leader1:1864-1868
Leader2:Oman Mazhar Ahmed
Year Leader2:1876-1877

The Vilayet of the Danube or Danubian Vilayet (Turkish, Ottoman (1500-1928);: ولايت طونه|Vilâyet-i Tuna;[2] Bulgarian: Дунавска област, Dunavska(ta) oblast,[3] more commonly Дунавски вилает, Danube Vilayet; French: '''Vilayet du Danube''') was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire from 1864 to 1878. In the late 19th century it reportedly had an area of 34120sqmi.[4]

The vilayet was created from the northern parts of Silistra Province along the Danube River and eyalets of Niš, Vidin and Silistra. This vilayet was meant to become a model province, showcasing all the progress achieved by the Porte through the modernising Tanzimat reforms. Other vilayets modelled on the vilayet of the Danube were ultimately established throughout the empire by 1876, with the exception of the Arabian Peninsula and the by then semi-independent Egypt. Rusçuk, today Ruse in Bulgaria, was chosen as the capital of the vilayet due to its position as a key Ottoman port on the Danube.

The province disappeared after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 - 78, when its north-eastern part (Northern Dobruja) was incorporated into Romania, some of its western territories into Serbia, while the central and southern regions made up most of the autonomous Principality of Bulgaria and a part of Eastern Rumelia.

Borders and administrative divisions

Upon its establishment in 1864, the Danube Vilayet included the following sanjaks:[5]

  1. Sanjak of Tulcea
  2. Sanjak of Varna
  3. Sanjak of Ruse
  4. Sanjak of Tărnovo
  5. Sanjak of Vidin
  6. Sanjak of Sofia
  7. Sanjak of Niš

In 1868, the Sanjak of Niš was detached and made part of the Prizren Vilayet.[6]

In 1876, the Sanjak of Niš and the Sanjak of Sofia were spun off into the short-lived Sofia Vilayet but were subsequently annexed to the Vilayets of Adrianople and Kosovo Vilayets only a year later, in 1877.

Government

Midhat Pasha was the first governor of the vilayet (1864–1868).[7] During his time as a governor, steamship lines were established on the Danube River; the Ruse-Varna railroad was completed; agricultural credit cooperatives providing farmers with low-interest loans were introduced; tax incentives were also offered to encourage new industrial enterprises.[7]

The first official vilayet newspaper in the Ottoman Empire, Tuna/Dunav, was published in both Ottoman Turkish and Bulgarian and had both Ottoman and Bulgarian editors. Its editors in chief included Ismail Kemal and Ahmed Midhat Efendi.[7]

The vilayet had an Administrative Assembly that included state officials appointed by the Ottoman government as well as six representatives (three Muslims and three non-Muslims) elected from among the inhabitants of the province.[7] Non-Muslims also participated in the provincial criminal and commercial courts that were based on a secular code of law and justice.[7] Mixed Muslim-Christian schools were also introduced, but this reform was abolished after it was met by strong opposition by the populace.[7]

Governors

Governors of the Vilayet:[8]

Demographics

In 1865, 658,600 (40.51%) Muslims and 967,058 (59.49%) non-Muslims, including females, were living in the province (excluding Niş sanjak); some 569,868 (34.68%) Muslims, apart from the immigrants and 1.073.496 (65,32%) non-Muslims in 1859–1860.[9] Some 250000-300000 Muslim immigrants from Crimea and Caucasus had been settled in this region from 1855 to 1864.[10]

Male population of the Danube Vilayet (exclusive of the Sanjak of Niš) in 1865 according to Kuyûd-ı Atîk (the Danube Vilayet printing press):[11]

Ethnoconfessional Groups in the Danube Vilayet as per the 1865 Population Register
CommunityRusçuk SanjakVidin SanjakVarna SanjakTırnova SanjakTulça SanjakSofya SanjakDanube Vilayet
Islam Millet
Muslim Roma
Bulgar Millet
Ullah Millet
Ermeni Millet
Rum Millet
Non-Muslim Romani people
Yahudi Millet
TOTAL

Male Muslim & Non-Muslim population in the Danube Vilayet according to the Ottoman Salname for 1868:[12] [10]

Male Muslim & Non-Muslim Population in the Danube Vilayet as per the 1868 Ottoman Salname
SanjakMuslimsNon-MuslimsTotal
Number%Number%
Rusçuk138,69259.14%95,83440.86%
Varna58,68973.86%20,76926.14%
Vidin25,33816.90%124,56783.10%
Sofya24,41014.23%147,09585.77%
Tirnova71,64540.73%104,27359.27%
Tulça39,13368.58%17,92941.42%
Niş54,51035.18%100,42564.82%

Male Population of the Danube Vilayet (exclusive of the Sanjak of Niš) in 1866-1873 according to the editor of the Danube newspaper Ismail Kemal:[13]

Male Population of the Danube Vilayet1 in 1873
CommunityPopulation
Muslims
—Established Muslims
—Muslim settlers
—Muslim Roma
Christians
—Bulgarians
—Greeks
—Armenians
—Catholics
—other Christians
Non-Muslims Romani people
Jews

Male Population of the Danube Vilayet (exclusive of the Sanjak of Niš) in 1868 according to Kemal Karpat:[10]

GroupPopulation
Christian Bulgarians490.467
Muslims359.907

According to the 1874 census, there were 963596 (42,22%) Muslims and 1318506 (57,78%) non-Muslims in the Danube Province excluding Nış sanjak. Together with the sanjak of Nish the population consisted of 1055650 (40,68%) Muslims and 1539278 (59,32%) non-Muslims in 1874. Muslims were the majority in the sanjaks of Rusçuk, Varna and Tulça, while the non-Muslims were in majority in the rest of the sanjaks.[14]

Total population of the Danube Vilayet by ethnoconfessional group according to French orientalist Ubicini on the basis of the official Ottoman Census of the Danube Vilayet of 1873-1874 (exclusive of the Sanjak of Niš), then part of the Prizren Vilayet:

Ethnoconfessional Groups in the Danube Vilayet1 as per the 1873-74 Census
CommunityNumberPercentage
Muslims 963,596 42.28%
—Established Muslims 784,731 34.44%
Circassian Muhacir 128,7965.65%
—Muslim Romani 50.0692.19%
Christians 1,303,944 57.23%
Bulgar millet 1,185,146 52.02%
Rum millet 15,310 0.67%
Ermeni millet 450 0.02%
—Roman Catholics 7,112 0.31%
—Christian Romani 15,524 0.68%
—Miscellaneous Christians2 80,402 3.53%
Yahudi millet 10,752 0.48%

Male Population of the Danube Vilayet (exclusive of the Sanjak of Niš) in 1875 according to Tahrir-i Cedid (the Danube Vilayet printing press):[15]

Male Population of the Danube Vilayet (exclusive of the Sanjak of Niš) in 1875
CommunityRusçuk SanjakVidin SanjakVarna SanjakTırnova SanjakTulça SanjakSofya SanjakDanube Vilayet
Islam Millet
Circassian Muhacir
Muslim Roma
Bulgar Millet
Vlachs, Catholics, etc.
Ermeni Millet
Rum Millet
Non-Muslims Romani people
Yahudi Millet
TOTAL

Total population of the Danube Vilayet according to Russian diplomat Vladimir Cherkassky from the Ottoman population register:[16]

Total Population of the Danube Vilayet according to Cherkassky from the register, ca. 1876:
SanjakMuslimsBulgariansOthersTotal
Number%Number%Number%
Rusçuk381,22461.53%233,16437.63%5,1860.84%
Vidin59,65417.66%246,65473.04%31,3989.30%
Tirnova189,98038.71%300,82061.29%0-
Tulça112,30063.34%26,21214.78%38,78821.88%
Varna119,75469.78%43,18025.16%8,6785.06%
Sofya59,93014.02%362,71484.87%4,7481.11%
Niş77,50021.63%270,00075.36%10,8003.01%

Male population of the Danube Vilayet in 1876 according to the Ottoman officer Stanislas Saint Clair:[13]

CommunityPopulation
Turk Muslims
Other Muslims
Bulgarian Christians
Armenian Christians
Vlach and Greek Christians
Gypsies
Jews
TOTAL Danube Vilayet

Total population of the Danube Vilayet (including Niş and Sofia sanjaks) according to the 1876 edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica:[17]

GroupPopulation
Bulgarians
Turks
Tatars
Circassians
Albanians
Romanians
Gypsies
Russians
Armenians
Jews
Greeks
Serbs
Germans, Italians, Arabs and others
TOTAL Danube Vilayet

Total Population of the Danube Vilayet (excluding Niş sanjak) in 1876 estimated by the French counsel Aubaret from the register:[18] [19]

CommunityPopulation
Muslims
incl. Turks
incl. Circassians
incl. Tatars
incl. Gypsies
Non-Muslims
incl. Bulgarians
incl. Gypsies
incl. Greeks
incl. Jews
incl. Armenians
incl. Vlachs and others
TOTAL Danube Vilayet

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Palairet, Michael R.. The Balkan Economies c.1800-1914: Evolution without Development. 9780521522564. 2003-11-13. Cambridge University Press .
  2. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003517733 Hathi Trust Digital Library - Holdings: Salname-yi Vilâyet-i Tuna
  3. Book: Strauss, Johann. The First Ottoman Experiment in Democracy. 2010 . A Constitution for a Multilingual Empire: Translations of the Kanun-ı Esasi and Other Official Texts into Minority Languages . Herzog, Christoph. Malek Sharif. . Wurzburg. 21–51 . (info page on book at Martin Luther University) // CITED: p. 42 (PDF p. 44/338).
  4. https://archive.org/stream/earth01recluoft#page/152/mode/1up Europe
  5. Book: Stanford Jay Shaw. Ezel Kural. Shaw. History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. 2013-05-28. 1977. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-29166-8. 90.
  6. Book: Grandits. Hannes. Conflicting Loyalties in the Balkans The Great Powers, the Ottoman Empire and Nation-building.. Gardners Books. 978-1-84885-477-2. Nathalie Clayer, Robert Pichler. 5 May 2011. 309. 2010. In 1868 the vilayet of Prizren was created with the sancaks of Prizren, Dibra, Skopje and Niš; it only existed till 1877.
  7. By Gábor Ágoston, Bruce Alan Masters
  8. http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Bulgaria.html World Statesmen — Bulgaria
  9. Web site: Makale Takip Sistemi Mobile. 2018-08-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20180806025155/http://mobil.turkishstudies.net/mdetay.aspx?ID=7023&Detay=Ozet. 2018-08-06. dead.
  10. Karpat, K.H. (1985). Ottoman population, 1830-1914: demographic and social characteristics. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press.
  11. Turkish Studies - International Periodical for the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic. 9. 4. Aşkın. KOYUNCU . Tuna Vilâyeti'nde Nüfus Ve Demografi (1864-1877). Population and Demography of the Danube Vilayet (1864-1877) . tr. January 2014. 10.7827/TurkishStudies.7023. 695. free.
  12. Turkish Studies - International Periodical for the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic. 9. 4. Aşkın. KOYUNCU . Tuna Vilâyeti'nde Nüfus Ve Demografi (1864-1877). Population and Demography of the Danube Vilayet (1864-1877) . tr. January 2014. 10.7827/TurkishStudies.7023. 697. free.
  13. Димитър Аркадиев. ИЗМЕНЕНИЯ В БРОЯ НА НАСЕЛЕНИЕТО ПО БЪЛГАРСКИТЕ ЗЕМИ В СЪСТАВА НА ОСМАНСКАТА ИМПЕРИЯ http://spisaniestatistika.nsi.bg/page/bg/details.php?article_id=84&tab=en National Statistical Institute
  14. Web site: KOYUNCU . Aşkın . Population And Demographics In The Danube Province (1864-1877) . www.turkishstudies.net . 2018-08-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180612144518/http://www.turkishstudies.net/English/DergiTamDetay.aspx?ID=7023&Detay=Ozet . 2018-06-12 . dead .
  15. Turkish Studies - International Periodical for the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic. 9. 4. Aşkın. KOYUNCU . Tuna Vilâyeti'nde Nüfus Ve Demografi (1864-1877). Population and Demography of the Danube Vilayet (1864-1877) . tr. January 2014. 10.7827/TurkishStudies.7023. 717. free.
  16. Turkish Studies - International Periodical for the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic. 9. 4. Aşkın. KOYUNCU . Tuna Vilâyeti'nde Nüfus Ve Demografi (1864-1877). Population and Demography of the Danube Vilayet (1864-1877) . tr. January 2014. 10.7827/TurkishStudies.7023. 725. free.
  17. Book: Kellogg . Day Otis . Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General Literature . 1876 . J.M. Stoddart . 462 .
  18. Book: Suleiman. Yasir. Language and Identity in the Middle East and North Africa. Routledge. 9781136787843. 102. 2013-12-16.
  19. Book: ENGİN DENİZ TANIR. THE MID-NINETEENTH CENTURY OTTOMAN BULGARIA FROM THE VIEWPOINTS OF THE FRENCH TRAVELERS A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY. 52–55. 2018-08-05. 2017-02-02. https://web.archive.org/web/20170202055057/https://www.scribd.com/document/188315570/THE-MID-NINETEENTH-CENTURY-OTTOMAN-BULGARIA-FROM-THE-VIEWPOINTS-OF-THE-FRENCH-TRAVELERS-pdf. dead.