Papers of BAS

Papers of BAS. Humanities and Social Sciences

Vol. 11, 2024, No. 1

Urbanization in Bulgarian lands under Ottoman rule

in the 19th century: Pan-European dimensions and specifics

Ventsislav Muchinov

Abstract. The article aims to establish what the trend was in the dynamics of urbanization in the Bulgarian lands under Ottoman rule during the period from the beginning of the 19th century to the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878, revealing the Balkan and pan-European dimensions of the studied process. This makes it possible to correct the thesis imposed in Bulgarian science that, in relation to Bulgaria, urbanization is a process characteristic of the post-liberation era and especially of the period after the World War Two. The present study proves that for the modern territory of the country, urbanization is a process that started to emerge even before the Liberation under the influence of a complex of factors of political-administrative, socio-economic, demographic, etc., character. This is how the Bulgarian lands gradually came into sync with the general European trend for a significant increase in the levels of urbanization in the 19th century, as a result of which the modern urban system of the European countries was formed.

Keywords: Bulgarian lands, Ottoman Empire, urbanization, modernization