Transforming the Landscape of the Constantinople Road in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries (Section Niš–Dragoman)

Katić, Tatjana (2021) Transforming the Landscape of the Constantinople Road in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries (Section Niš–Dragoman). In: The Balkan Route: Historical Transformations from Via Militaris to Autoput. De Gruyter, Berlin; Boston, pp. 81-102. ISBN 9783110616828 (Print edition); 9783110618563 (Electronic edition)

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Abstract

The route that led from Constantinople to Buda, passing through the valleys of rivers Maritsa, Nišava, Morava and Danube, was one of the major long-distance trade routes in the Ottoman Empire and the main military road in the European part of the Empire from the 15th century onwards. Therefore, it was regularly maintained and secured by the Ottoman authorities. All of the state’s measures taken to ensure the good functioning of the road had an impact on its look and its immediate natural environment. However, they also had far-reaching consequences on local settlements and population, which have hitherto not been dealt with in detail. My research aims to determine how the Ottoman administering of the road influenced its cultural and demographic landscape. Through examining the Ottoman cadastral surveys, registers of outgoing orders of the Ottoman Finance Department, travelogues and other available sources, it is possible to explain the development of the road infrastructure and security system, and their effects on the local population, its social status and mobility. The article is focused on the section of the Constantinople road that follows the upper course of the river Nišava, precisely to the Dragoman-Niš route. This section passed through a specific ethnocultural region, distinguished by its unique Torlakian dialect. The difference between the Torlaks and their neighbours is quite discernible in the 16th-century Ottoman sources, which open up an opportunity to detect ethnic changes in the settlements along the road

Item Type: Book Section
Uncontrolled Keywords: The Tsarigrad road, derbend organization, Ottoman caravanserais and menzils
Subjects: D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D111 Medieval History
D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D204 Modern History
D History General and Old World > DR Balkan Peninsula
Depositing User: Slavica Merenik
Date Deposited: 26 Jul 2023 11:21
Last Modified: 15 Dec 2023 10:06
URI: http://rih.iib.ac.rs/id/eprint/1194

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