The Sanjak of Siroz or Serres (Ottoman Turkish: Sancak-i/Liva-i Siroz; Greek: λιβάς/σαντζάκι Σερρών, Bulgarian: Серски Санджак) was a second-level Ottoman province (sanjak or liva) encompassing the region around the town of Serres (Turkish: Siroz, now in Greece) in central Macedonia.
History
Serres fell to the Ottoman Empire on 19 September 1383, and initially formed a fief of Evrenos Beg, who brought in Yörük settlers from Sarukhan. Although never rising to particular prominence within the Ottoman Empire, Serres became also the site of a mint from 1413/14 on.[1] In the 18th and early 19th centuries, Serres was an autonomous beylik under a succession of derebeys, within the Sanjak of Salonica.[1][2]
Ethnoconfessional Groups in the Sanjak of Siroz as per the 1881-82 Ottoman Census[3]
Muslims (42.3%)
Bulgarians (36.3%)
Greeks (20.7%)
Jews (0.3%)
Miscellaneous (0.2%)
The province was dissolved when occupied by Bulgarian troops in the First Balkan War. In 1913, after the Second Balkan War, the town of Serres and the southern half of the sanjak became part of Greece.
Ethnoconfessional Groups in the Sanjak of Siroz as per the 1905-1906 Ottoman Census[4]
Muslims (41.3%)
Bulgarians (39.3%)
Greeks (19.4%)
Jews (0.4%)
Ethnoconfessional group
1881-82 Census
%
1905-06 Census (Karpat)
%
1905-06 Census (Archives)
%
Muslims
143,860
42.3
68,168
42.3
150,045
41.3
Orthodox Bulgarians
123,437
36.3
69,034
36.2
131,476
39.3
Orthodox Greeks
70,459
20.7
46,018
24.1
82,334
19.4
Jews
1,112
0.3
1,420
0.7
1,580
0.4
Gypsies
N/A
N/A
2,029
1.1
N/A
N/A
Foreign citizens
725
0.2
4
0.0
N/A
N/A
Protestants
283
0.0
29
0.0
N/A
N/A
Armenians
5
0.0
31
0.0
N/A
N/A
Total
339,881
100.0
190,656*
100.0
365,435
100.0
*Suspiciously low figures for all ethnoconfessional groups given that there have been no border changes or mass migration from the sanjak
References
^ abBabinger, Franz (1934). "Serres". In M. Th. Houtsma; A. J. Wensinck; E. Lévi-Provençal; H. A. R. Gibb; W. Heffening (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islām, A Dictionary of the Geography, Ethnography and Biography of the Muhammadan Peoples. Volume IV: S–Z. Leiden and London: E. J. Brill and Luzac & Co. p. 234.
^ abBirken, Andreas[in German] (1976). Die Provinzen des Osmanischen Reiches [The Provinces of the Ottoman Empire]. Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients, 13 (in German). Reichert. p. 77. ISBN3-920153-56-1.