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| ولايت قوصوه (Ottoman Turkish) Kosova Vilayeti (Turkish) Vilajeti i Kosovës (Albanian) Kosovski vilajet/Косовски вилајет (Serbian) | |||||||||||||||
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| Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire | |||||||||||||||
| 1877–1913 | |||||||||||||||
.svg) The Kosovo Vilayet in 1877–1913, area under Austrian-Hungarian occupation (Sandžak region) hashed | |||||||||||||||
| Capital | Priştine (1877–1888)[1]Üsküp (1888–1913)[2] | ||||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||||
• 1911[3] | 1,602,949 | ||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||
• Established | 1877 | ||||||||||||||
| 30 May 1913 | |||||||||||||||
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| Today part of | Kosovo Serbia North Macedonia Montenegro Albania | ||||||||||||||
TheVilayet of Kosovo (Ottoman Turkish:ولايت قوصوه,Vilâyet-i Kosova;[4]Turkish:Kosova Vilayeti;Albanian:Vilajeti i Kosovës;Serbian:Косовски вилајет,Kosovski vilajet) was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of theOttoman Empire in theBalkan Peninsula[5] which included the modern-day territory ofKosovo and the north-western part of theRepublic of North Macedonia. The areas today comprisingSandžak (Raška) region ofSerbia andMontenegro, althoughde jure under Ottoman control, werede facto underAustro-Hungarian occupation from 1878 until 1909, as provided under Article 25 of theTreaty of Berlin.[6] Üsküb (Skopje) functioned as the capital of the province and the midway point betweenIstanbul and its European provinces. Üsküb's population of 32,000 made it the largest city in the province, followed byPrizren, also numbering at 30,000.
Thevilayet stood as a microcosm of Ottoman society; incorporated within its boundaries were diverse groups of peoples and religions:Albanians,Serbs,Bosniaks;Muslims andChristians, both Eastern Orthodox and Catholic. The province was renowned for its craftsmen and important cities such asİpek, where distinct Ottoman architecture and public baths were erected, some of which can still be seen today. The birthplace of the Albanian national identity was first articulated inPrizren, by theLeague of Prizren members in 1878.
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As a result, firstly of theTreaty of San Stefano in 1878, then of the modifiedTreaty of Berlin the same year which split the Ottoman Empire, Kosovo became the first line of defense for the Ottoman Empire, with large garrisons of Ottoman troops being stationed in the province. Before theFirst Balkan War in 1912, the province's shape and location deniedSerbia andMontenegro a common land border. After the war, the major part of thevilayet was divided between Montenegro and Serbia. These borders were all ratified at theTreaty of London in 1913.[7] The Ottoman Empire finally recognised the new borders following a peace deal with the Kingdom of Serbia on 14 March 1914.[citation needed]
Sanjaks of the Vilayet:[when?][8]
Üsküp was the administrative capital of the vilayet and other important towns included Priştine (10,000 inhabitants), İpek, Mitroviçe and Prizren.[9] Kosovo vilayet encompassed theSandžak region cutting into present-dayCentral Serbia andMontenegro along with theKukës[citation needed] municipality and surrounding region in present-day northernAlbania. Between 1881 and 1912 (its final chapter), it was internally expanded to include other regions of present-day Republic of North Macedonia, including larger urban settlements such asŠtip (İştip),Kumanovo (Kumanova) andKratovo (Kratova) (see map).
The Vilayet of Kosovo was created in 1877, and consisted of a much larger area than modern Kosovo, as it also included theSanjak of Novi Pazar, theSanjak of Niş (until 1878), the region aroundPlav andGusinje as well as theDibra region.[10] These regions had belonged to the formerEyalet of Niş, theEyalet of Üsküb and, after 1865, theDanube Vilayet. In 1868 the Vilayet of Prizren was created with the sanjaks of Prizren, Dibra, Skopje and Nis, but it ceased to exist in 1877.[10]
During and after theSerbian–Ottoman War of 1876–78, between 30,000 and 70,000 Muslims, mostly Albanians, wereexpelled by theSerb army from theSanjak of Niș and fled to the Kosovo Vilayet.[11][12][13][14][15][16]
In 1878, theLeague of Prizren was created by Albanians from four vilayets including the Vilayet of Kosovo. The League's purpose was to resist Ottoman rule and incursions by the newly emerging Balkan nations.
TheKumanovo Uprising took place in early 1878 organized by an assembly of chiefs of the districts (Ottomankaza) ofKumanovo,Kriva Palanka andKratovo in the Vilayet of Kosovo (in modern-day northernRepublic of North Macedonia) seeking to liberate the region from the hands of the Ottoman Empire and unify it with thePrincipality of Serbia, which was atwar with the Ottomans at that time. With the Serbian Army's liberation ofNiš (11 January 1878) andVranje (31 January 1878), the rebellion had been activated during the latter event with guerrilla fighting. The rebels received secret aid from the Serbian government, though the uprising only lasted four months, until its suppression by the Ottomans.
The province's boundaries shifted as the Ottoman Empire lost territory to neighboring states in theTreaty of Berlin following theRusso-Turkish War of 1877–1878 and parts were also internally transferred toMonastir Vilayet and fromSalonica Vilayet. In 1879, western parts of the Sanjak of Novi Pazar, fell underAustro-Hungarian occupation in accord with the Berlin treaty which also allowed theAustro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (remaining as such until 1908).
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Two major administrative changes happened in 1880 and 1902. In order to counter Austro-Hungarian military presence in western parts of the Sanjak of Novi Pazar, a new province was created in 1880: theSanjak of Pljevlja (Taşlica) with kazas:Pljevlja,Prijepolje andPriboj. In 1902, kazas of Mitrovica and Novi Pazar were transferred to Sanjak of Pristina, and kazas of Berane and Rožaje to Sanjak of Ipek. In the same time,Sanjak of Sjenica (Seniçe) was created with kazas:Sjenica,Nova Varoš,Bijelo Polje andLower Kolašin.
In 1910, an Albanian-organised insurrection broke out inPristina and soon spread to the entire vilayet of Kosovo, lasting for three months. The Ottoman sultan visited Kosovo in June 1911 during peace settlement talks covering all Albanian-inhabited areas.
Kosovo vilayet contained a diverse population that was split along religious and ethnic lines, with Albanians, Bulgarians, Bosniaks, and Serbs making the bulk of its population.[9]
Muslim Albanians formed the majority of the population in Kosovo vilayet that included an important part of the urban-professional and landowning classes of major towns.[17] Western Kosovo was composed of 50,000 inhabitants and an area dominated by the Albanian tribal system with 600 Albanians dying per year fromblood feuding.[18] The Yakova (Gjakovë) highlands contained 8 tribes that were mainly Muslim and in theLuma area near Prizren there were 5 tribes, mostly Muslim.[9] The town of İpek hadcrypto-Christians who were of theCatholic faith.[9] Similar to their counterparts inİşkodra Vilayet, Kosovar Malësors (highlanders) had privileges where by doing military service as irregular troops they paid no taxes and avoided military conscription.[9] Ottoman rule among the highlanders was minimal to non-existent and government officials would ally themselves with local power holders to exert any form of authority.[9] Kosovar Albanian Malësors settled disputes among themselves through theirmountain law and Ottoman officials disapproved of the autonomy they exercised.[19] In the 1880s from an Albanian point of view the sanjaks of İpek, Prizren, Priştine, Üsküp and Yenipazar within Kosovo vilayet belonged to the region ofGegënia.[20]
MuslimBosniaks whose native language was Slavic formed a sizable number of Kosovo vilayet's population and were concentrated mainly in Yenipazar sanjak that contained several prominent Bosniak landowners.[17]Circassian refugees who came from Russia were resettled by Ottoman authorities within Kosovo vilayet in 1864, numbering some 6,000 people by the 1890s and provided the state when needed with auxiliary troops.[17]
In the northern half of Kosovo vilayet Orthodox Serbs were the largest Christian group and formed a majority within the eastern areas.[17] Orthodox Serbs were under the ecclesiastical authority of theEcumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and a metropolitan, often of Greek ethnicity, lived in Priştine and presided over the affairs of the Orthodox population in the province.[17] A seminary existed in Prizren with 100 resident seminarians with many originating fromMontenegro.[17] From the 1860s onward, Serbia pursued an active policy of supporting Serbs in Kosovo that entailed sending teachers to the vilayet, supplying subsidies to assist Serb schools and providing scholarships to study in Belgrade.[17] Serb cultural clubs were active in major urban centres containing a sizable Serbian population with some local Serbs supporting a future incorporation of the province into aGreater Serbia.[17] Serb schools in the province also attracted some Muslim Albanians as students.[17] Several thousandAromanians inhabited Kosovo vilayet.[17]Bulgarians lived in the southern half of Kosovo vilayet.[17]
There have been a number of estimates about the ethnicity and religious affiliation of the population of the heterogeneous province.
According to theOttoman General Census of 1881/82-1893 the population of the vilayet is as follows:[21]
Ottoman provincial records for 1887 estimated that Albanians formed more than half of Kosovo vilayet's population concentrated in the sanjaks of İpek, Prizren and Priştine.[9] In the sanjaks of Yenipazar, Taşlica and Üsküp, Albanians formed a smaller proportion of the population.[9]
An Austrian statistics published in 1899 estimated:[23]
According to Ottoman yearbooks, in 1901, the Kosovo vilayet which encompassed five sanjaks: Skopje, Pristina, Prizren, Novi Pazar, and Pljevlja had 964,657 inhabitants; two thirds were Muslims and one third was Christian. The Muslims were primarily Albanians and the Christians were mostly Serbs. The yearbooks, however, are deemed unreliable sources as they, in some districts, did not register the female population, but balanced the numbers against the male population, though it is a well known fact that the number of male heads exceeded the number of female heads throughout this period not only in those lands but in Serbia Proper as well.[24]
British journalistH. Brailsford estimated in 1906[25] that two-thirds of the population of Kosovo was Albanian and one-third Serbian. The most populous western districts ofGjakova andPeja were said to have between 20,000 and 25,000 Albanian households, as against some 5,000 Serbian ones. A map ofAlfred Stead,[26] published in 1909, shows that similar numbers of Serbs and Albanians were living in the territory.
According to Ottoman census data, the total population was 1,602,949 with the following ethnoreligious composition:[27]
An article published in the Belgian magazineOns Volk Ontwaakt (Our Nation Awakes) on 21 December 1912 estimated 827,100 inhabitants:[28]
The governors (Vali) of the province were:[citation needed]
| Governor | Office |
|---|---|
| Ibrahim Edhem Pasha (1819–1893) | 5 February 1877 – 11 January 1878 |
| Hafiz Mehmed Pasha | 1894–1899 |
| Reshad Bey Pasha | 1900–1902 |
| Abeddin Pasha Ethnic Albanian[29] | 1902–1903 |
| Shakir Pasha Numan | 1903–1904 |
| Mahmud Shefket Pasha | 1905–1907 |
| Hadi Pasha | 1908 |
| Mazhar Bey Pasha | 1909–1910 |
| Halil Bey Pasha | 1911 |
| Ghalib Pasha | 1912-13 |
Media related toVilayet of Kosovo at Wikimedia CommonsAlbanians under the Ottoman Empire | |||||||||||
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