“Old”/“New” Settlements and Administrative Centers
in the Ottoman Provincial Administration: Ala Kinise/ Osman Pazar and
Hotalich/ Servi (Selvi) (According to Ottoman Documents
From the 15th–17th Centuries)
Authors:
Krasimira
Mutafova
St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria
Pages:
67-
79
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54664/WDOG9119
Abstract:
The study raises questions about the fate of the medieval Bulgarian fortresses and urban
centers in the system of Ottoman provincial administration, which has repeatedly been discussed in Balkan and
Ottoman studies. These debates are constantly related to the issues of continuity in the administration and ruling
of the Bulgarian lands, evidenced in the territorial overlap of the medieval administrative structures with
the new Ottoman ones, as well as in the names of the sanjaks, nahiyes and vilayets. One of the problems that is
yet to be completely solved has to do with the medieval fortresses and settlements, registered with their pre-Ottoman
names as important administrative centers in the system of Ottoman provincial administration (nahiyes,
vilayets, kazas), but most likely destroyed during the conquest or earlier. New settlements are developing near
them which have different names but the same administrative functions. Many of them are problematic to be
localized, but for centuries, these “old” settlements and centers of power have been referred to in parallel with
the “new” settlements as another name (nam-i diğer) for the respective administrative centers. The present
study focuses on two of the examples of continuity and parallel designation of the “old”/“new” settlements –
nahiye Ala Kinise (Kilisa)/ Osman Pazar and nahiye Hotaliç/ Servi (Selvi). These administrative-territorial
units are typical of the Ottoman model of administration at local level, as well as regarding the presence of a
particular continuity from the medieval Bulgarian state. The complex approach applied in the research and
interpretation of the Ottoman register material allows us not only to trace the indications of continuity in the
development of individual settlements, but also to understand the pre-Ottoman period of their existence within
the medieval Bulgarian state. In a broader sense, it provides a real opportunity for a well-grounded reconstruction
of the Ottoman model of power, demographic and economic control of the Bulgarian lands at local level.
Keywords:
Ottoman period, Ottoman tax inventories, Ottoman provincial administration, continuity,
nahiye, vilayet, kaza, sanjak of Nikopol, Osman Pazar, Ala Kinise, Hotaliç, Servi (Selvi)
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