| Vilayet of the Danube | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1864–1878 | |||||||||||||||||||
.svg) Flag | |||||||||||||||||||
.png) The Danube Vilayet in 1877 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Rusçuk | ||||||||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||||||||
| • Coordinates | 43°0′N25°0′E / 43.000°N 25.000°E /43.000; 25.000 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||||||||
• 1864 | 1,995,000[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Government | |||||||||||||||||||
| Governor | |||||||||||||||||||
• 1864-1868 | Ahmed Şefik Midhat Pasha | ||||||||||||||||||
• 1876-1877 | Oman Mazhar Ahmed | ||||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1864 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1878 | |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| Today part of | Romania Serbia Bulgaria | ||||||||||||||||||
TheVilayet of the Danube orDanubian Vilayet (Ottoman Turkish:ولايت طونه,romanized: Vilâyet-i Tuna;[2]Bulgarian:Дунавска област, Dunavska(ta) oblast,[3] more commonly Дунавски вилает, Danube Vilayet) was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of theOttoman Empire from 1864 to 1878.[4] In the late 19th century it reportedly had an area of 34,120 square miles (88,400 km2).[5]
The vilayet was created from the northern parts ofSilistra Province along theDanube River and eyalets ofNiš,Vidin andSilistra. This vilayet was meant to become a model province, showcasing all the progress achieved by thePorte through the modernisingTanzimat reforms.[6] Other vilayets modelled on the vilayet of the Danube were ultimately established throughout the empire by 1876, with the exception of theArabian Peninsula and the by then semi-independent Egypt.[6] Rusçuk, todayRuse in Bulgaria, was chosen as the capital of the vilayet due to its position as a key Ottoman port on the Danube.[6]
The province disappeared after theRusso-Turkish War of 1877–78, when its north-eastern part (Northern Dobruja) was incorporated intoRomania, some of its western territories intoSerbia, while the central and southern regions made up most of the autonomousPrincipality of Bulgaria and a part ofEastern Rumelia.
Upon its establishment in 1864, the Danube Vilayet included the following sanjaks:[7]
In 1868, the Sanjak of Niš was detached and made part of the Prizren Vilayet.[8]
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 ofAdrianople andKosovo Vilayets only a year later, in 1877.[9]
Midhat Pasha was the first governor of the vilayet (1864–1868).[6] During his time as a governor,steamship lines were established on theDanube River; theRuse-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.[6]
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 includedIsmail Kemal andAhmed Midhat Efendi.[6]
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.[6] Non-Muslims also participated in the provincial criminal and commercial courts that were based on a secular code of law and justice.[6] Mixed Muslim-Christian schools were also introduced, but this reform was abolished after it was met by strong opposition by the populace.[6]
Governors of the Vilayet:[11]
In 1865, 658,600 (40.51%) Muslims and 967,058 (59.49%) non-Muslims, including females, were living in the province (excludingNiş sanjak); some 569,868 (34.68%) Muslims, apart from the immigrants and 1.073.496 (65,32%) non-Muslims in 1859–1860.[12] Some 250000-300000 Muslim immigrants fromCrimea andCaucasus had been settled in this region from 1855 to 1864.[13]
Male population of the Danube Vilayet (exclusive of theSanjak of Niš) in 1865 according to Kuyûd-ı Atîk (the Danube Vilayet printing press):[14]
| Community | RusçukSanjak | VidinSanjak | VarnaSanjak | TırnovaSanjak | TulçaSanjak | SofyaSanjak | Danube Vilayet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Islam Millet | 138,017 (61%) | 14,835 (13%) | 38,230 (74%) | 77,539 (40%) | 38,479 (65%) | 20,612 (12%) | 327,712 (40%) |
| Muslim Roma | 312 (0%) | 245 (0%) | 118 (0%) | 128 (0%) | 19 (0%) | 766 (0%) | 1,588 (0%) |
| Bulgar Millet | 85,268 (38%) | 93,613 (80%) | 9,553 (18%) | 113,213 (59%) | 12,961 (22%) | 142,410 (86%) | 457,018 (56%) |
| Ullah Millet | 0 (0%) | 7,446 (6%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 7,446 (1%) |
| Ermeni Millet | 926 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 368 (1%) | 0 (0%) | 5,720 (10%) | 0 (0%) | 7,014 (1%) |
| Rum Millet | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 2,639 (5%) | 0 (0%) | 2,215 (4%) | 0 (0%) | 4,908 (1%) |
| Non-MuslimRomani people | 145 (0%) | 130 (0%) | 999 (2%) | 1,455 (1%) | 92 (0%) | 786 (0%) | 3,607 (0%) |
| Yahudi Millet | 1,101 (0%) | 630 (1%) | 14 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (0%) | 1,790 (1%) | 3,536 (0%) |
| TOTAL | 225,769 (100%) | 116,899 (100%) | 51,975 (100%) | 192,335 (100%) | 59,487 (100%) | 166,364 (100%) | 812,829 (100%) |
Male Muslim & Non-Muslim population in the Danube Vilayet according to the Ottoman Salname for 1868:[15][13]
| Sanjak | Muslims | Non-Muslims | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | % | Number | % | ||
| Rusçuk | 138,692 | 59.14% | 95,834 | 40.86% | 234,526 |
| Varna | 58,689 | 73.86% | 20,769 | 26.14% | 79.458 |
| Vidin | 25,338 | 16.90% | 124,567 | 83.10% | 149,905 |
| Sofya | 24,410 | 14.23% | 147,095 | 85.77% | 171,505 |
| Tirnova | 71,645 | 40.73% | 104,273 | 59.27% | 175,918 |
| Tulça | 39,133 | 68.58% | 17,929 | 41.42% | 57,062 |
| Niş | 54,510 | 35.18% | 100,425 | 64.82% | 154,935 |
| Grand Total | 412,417 | 40.30% | 610,892 | 59.70% | 1,023,309 |
Male Population of the Danube Vilayet (exclusive of theSanjak of Niš) in 1866-1873 according to the editor of the Danube newspaper Ismail Kemal:[16]
| Community | Population | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muslims | 481,798 (42%) | |||||||||
| —Established Muslims | 392,369 (34%) | |||||||||
| —Muslim settlers | 64,398 (6%) | |||||||||
| —Muslim Roma | 25,031 (2%) | |||||||||
| Christians | 646,215 (57%) | |||||||||
| —Bulgarians | 592,573 (52%) | |||||||||
| —Greeks | 7,655 (1%) | |||||||||
| —Armenians | 2,128 (0%) | |||||||||
| —Catholics | 3,556 (0%) | |||||||||
| —other Christians | 40,303 (4%) | |||||||||
| Non-Muslims Romani people | 7,663 (1%) | |||||||||
| Jews | 5,375 (0%) | |||||||||
| TOTAL Danube Vilayet | 1,141,051 (100%) | |||||||||
1 Exclusive of the Sanjak of Niš. | ||||||||||
Male Population of the Danube Vilayet (exclusive of theSanjak of Niš) in 1868 according toKemal Karpat:[13]
| Group | Population |
|---|---|
| Christian Bulgarians | 490.467 |
| Muslims | 359.907 |
According to the 1874 census, there were 963596 (42,22%) Muslims and 1318506 (57,78%) non-Muslims in the Danube Province excludingNış 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 ofRusçuk,Varna andTulça, while the non-Muslims were in majority in the rest of the sanjaks.[9]
Total population of the Danube Vilayet by ethnoconfessional group according to French orientalistUbicini on the basis of the official Ottoman Census of the Danube Vilayet of 1873-1874 (exclusive of theSanjak of Niš) , then part of the Prizren Vilayet:[17]
| Community | Number | Percentage | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muslims | 963,596 | 42.28% | ||||||||
| —Established Muslims | 784,731 | 34.44% | ||||||||
| —Circassian Muhacir | 128,796 | 5.65% | ||||||||
| —MuslimRomani | 50.069 | 2.19% | ||||||||
| 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% | ||||||||
| —ChristianRomani | 15,524 | 0.68% | ||||||||
| —Miscellaneous Christians2 | 80,402 | 3.53% | ||||||||
| Yahudi millet | 10,752 | 0.48% | ||||||||
| GRAND TOTAL | 2,278,290 | 100% | ||||||||
1 Exclusive of the Sanjak of Niš. 2 Vlachs, Lipovans, Cossacks, Germans, etc., mostly in Sanjak ofTulça. | ||||||||||
Male Population of the Danube Vilayet (exclusive of theSanjak of Niš) in 1875 according to Tahrir-i Cedid (the Danube Vilayet printing press):[18]
| Community | RusçukSanjak | VidinSanjak | VarnaSanjak | TırnovaSanjak | TulçaSanjak | SofyaSanjak | Danube Vilayet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Islam Millet | 164,455 (53%) | 20,492 (11%) | 52,742 (61%) | 88,445 (36%) | 53,059 (61%) | 27,001 (13%) | 406,194 (36%) |
| CircassianMuhacir | 16,588 (5%) | 6,522 (4%) | 4,307 (5%) | 0 (0%) | 2,954 (3%) | 202 (0%) | 30,573 (3%) |
| Muslim Roma | 9,579 (3%) | 2,783 (2%) | 2,825 (3%) | 6,545 (3%) | 139 (0%) | 2,964 (1%) | 24,835 (2%) |
| Bulgar Millet | 114,792 (37%) | 131,279 (73%) | 21,261 (25%) | 148,713 (60%) | 10,553 (12%) | 179,202 (84%) | 605,800 (54%) |
| Vlachs, Catholics, etc. | 500 (0%) | 14,690 (8%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 15,512 (18%) | 0 (0%) | 30,702 (3%) |
| Ermeni Millet | 991 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 808 (1%) | 0 (0%) | 3,885 (4%) | 0 (0%) | 5,684 (1%) |
| Rum Millet | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 3,421 (4%) | 494 (0%) | 217 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 4,132 (0%) |
| Non-MuslimsRomani people | 1,790 (1%) | 2,048 (1%) | 331 (0%) | 1,697 (1%) | 356 (0%) | 1,437 (1%) | 7,659 (1%) |
| Yahudi Millet | 1,102 (0%) | 1,009 (1%) | 110 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 780 (1%) | 2,374 (1%) | 5,375 (0%) |
| TOTAL | 309,797 (100%) | 178,823 (100%) | 85,805 (100%) | 245,894 (100%) | 87,455 (100%) | 213,180 (100%) | 1,120,954 (100%) |
Total population of the Danube Vilayet according to Russian diplomatVladimir Cherkassky from the Ottoman population register:[19]
| Sanjak | Muslims | Bulgarians | Others | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | ||
| Rusçuk | 381,224 | 61.53% | 233,164 | 37.63% | 5,186 | 0.84% | 619,574 |
| Vidin | 59,654 | 17.66% | 246,654 | 73.04% | 31,398 | 9.30% | 337,706 |
| Tirnova | 189,980 | 38.71% | 300,820 | 61.29% | 0 | - | 490,800 |
| Tulça | 112,300 | 63.34% | 26,212 | 14.78% | 38,788 | 21.88% | 177,300 |
| Varna | 119,754 | 69.78% | 43,180 | 25.16% | 8,678 | 5.06% | 171,612 |
| Sofya | 59,930 | 14.02% | 362,714 | 84.87% | 4,748 | 1.11% | 427,392 |
| Niş | 77,500 | 21.63% | 270,000 | 75.36% | 10,800 | 3.01% | 358,300 |
| Danube Vilayet Total | 1,000,342 | 38.73% | 1,482,744 | 57.41% | 99,598 | 3.86% | 2,582,684 |
Male population of the Danube Vilayet in 1876 according to the Ottoman officerStanislas Saint Clair:[16]
| Community | Population |
|---|---|
| Turk Muslims | 457,018 (36%) |
| Other Muslims | 104,639 (8%) |
| Bulgarian Christians | 639,813 (50%) |
| Armenian Christians | 2,128 (0%) |
| Vlach and Greek Christians | 56,647 (4%) |
| Gypsies | 8,220 (1%) |
| Jews | 5,847 (0%) |
| TOTAL Danube Vilayet | 1,274,282 (100%) |
Total population of the Danube Vilayet (includingNiş andSofia sanjaks) according to the 1876 edition ofEncyclopaedia Britannica:[20]
| Group | Population |
|---|---|
| Bulgarians | 1,500,000 (63%) |
| Turks | 500,000 (21%) |
| Tatars | 100,000 (4%) |
| Circassians | 90,000 (4%) |
| Albanians | 70,000 (3%) |
| Romanians | 40,000 (2%) |
| Gypsies | 25,000 (1%) |
| Russians | 10,000 (0%) |
| Armenians | 10,000 (0%) |
| Jews | 10,000 (0%) |
| Greeks | 8,000 (0%) |
| Serbs | 5,000 (0%) |
| Germans,Italians,Arabs and others | 1,000 (0%) |
| TOTAL Danube Vilayet | 2,369,000 (100%) |
Total Population of the Danube Vilayet (excludingNiş sanjak) in 1876 estimated by the French counsel Aubaret from the register:[21][22]
| Community | Population |
|---|---|
| Muslims | 1,120,000 (48%) |
| incl. Turks | 774,000 (33%) |
| incl. Circassians | 200,000 (8%) |
| incl. Tatars | 110,000 (5%) |
| incl. Gypsies | 35,000 (1%) |
| Non-Muslims | 1,233,500 (52%) |
| incl. Bulgarians | 1,130,000 (48%) |
| incl. Gypsies | 12,000 (1%) |
| incl. Greeks | 12,000 (1%) |
| incl. Jews | 12,000 (1%) |
| incl. Armenians | 2,500 (0%) |
| incl. Vlachs and others | 65,000 (3%) |
| TOTAL Danube Vilayet | 2,353,000 (100%) |
In 1868 the vilayet of Prizren was created with the sancaks of Prizren, Dibra, Skopje and Niš; it only existed till 1877
