Sanjak of Smederevo

Sanjak of Smederevo Semendire Sancağı Smederevski sandžak Смедеревски санџак Sanxhaku i Smederevës
sanjak of the Ottoman Empire
←   ← 1459–1817 →
Location of Sanjak of Smederevo Sanjak of Smederevo (Pashaluk of Belgrade) in 1791
Capital		Smederevo (1459–1521) Belgrade (1521–1817)
Sanjakbey		Ali Beg Mihaloglu (first)
History
•	Fall of the Serbian Despotate	1459
•	Autonomy of the Principality of Serbia	1817
Today part of		Serbia

The Sanjak of Smederevo (Serbian: Смедеревски санџак, Smederevski sandžak; Turkish: Semendire Sancağı), also known as the Pashaluk of Belgrade (Turkish: Belgrad Paşalığı), was an Ottoman administrative unit (sanjak), that existed between the 15th and the outset of the 19th centuries. It was located in the territory of present-day Central Serbia, Serbia. It belonged to Rumelia Eyalet between 1459 and 1541, and again between 1716 and 1717 and again 1739 and 1817 (nominally to 1830), to Budin Eyalet between 1541 and 1686, and to Temeșvar Eyalet between 1686 and 1688 and again between 1690 and 1716.

History

15th century

The Sanjak of Smederevo was formed after the fall of the Serbian Despotate in 1459, and its administrative seat was Smederevo. The Ottoman sources emphasize that large numbers of Vlachs migrated to the Sanjak of Smederevo and parts of the Sanjak of Kruševac and Sanjak of Vidin. According to those sources in 1476 there were 7,600 Vlach households and 15,000 peasant households.

16th century

After the Ottoman Empire conquered Belgrade in 1521, the administrative seat of the Sanjak was moved to this city. Some historians believed that epic figure of Alija Đerđelez was inspired by Ali Beg Mihaloglu, the first sanjakbey of the Sanjak of Smederevo. In period when Battle of Mohács took place the sanjakbey of Smederevo was Kučuk Bali-beg.

18th century

The Sanjak was occupied by the Habsburg Monarchy as the Kingdom of Serbia (1718–39), however, with the Treaty of Belgrade, the area was ceded to the Ottoman Empire. Belgrade, the center of the region while under Austrian rule, was neglected under the Ottomans and Smederevo (Semendire) was the administrative center. Nevertheless, Belgrade eventually became the seat of a pasha with the title of vizier and the Sanjak began to be referred to as the Pashaluk of Belgrade, although it was still called the Sanjak of Smederevo in official documents.

In 1788, Koča's frontier rebellion saw eastern Šumadija occupied by Austrian Serbian freikorps and hajduks. From 1788–91, Belgrade was again under Austrian rule after Koča's rebellion. The Siege of Belgrade from 15 September to 8 October 1789, a Habsburg Austrian force besieged the fortress of Belgrade. The Austrians held the city until 1791 when it handed Belgrade back to the Ottomans according to the terms of the Treaty of Sistova.

In 1793 and 1796 Sultan Selim III proclaimed firmans which gave more rights to Serbs. Among other things, taxes were to be collected by the obor-knez (dukes); freedom of trade and religion were granted and there was peace. Selim III also decreed that some unpopular janissaries were to leave the Belgrade Pashaluk as he saw them as a threat to the central authority of Hadži Mustafa Pasha. Many of those janissaries were employed by or found refuge with Osman Pazvantoğlu, a renegade opponent of Sultan Selim III in the Sanjak of Vidin. Fearing the dissolution of the Janissary command in the Sanjak of Smederevo, Osman Pazvantoğlu launched a series of raids against Serbians without the permission of Sultan Selim III, causing much volatility and fear in the region. Pazvantoğlu was defeated in 1793 by the Serbs at the Battle of Kolari. In the summer of 1797 the sultan appointed Mustafa Pasha on position of beglerbeg of Rumelia Eyalet and he left Serbia for Plovdiv to fight against the Vidin rebels of Pazvantoğlu. During the absence of Mustafa Pasha, the forces of Pazvantoğlu captured Požarevac and besieged the Belgrade fortress. At the end of November 1797 obor-knezes Aleksa Nenadović, Ilija Birčanin and Nikola Grbović from Valjevo brought their forces to Belgrade and forced the besieging janissary forces to retreat to Smederevo. By 1799 the janissary corps had returned, as they were pardoned by Sultan's decree, and they immediately suspended the Serbian autonomy and drastically increased taxes, enforcing martial law in Serbia. On 15 December 1801 Vizier Hadži Mustafa Pasha of Belgrade was killed by Kučuk Alija, one of the four leading Dahijas (Janissary officers who revolted against the Sultan). This resulted in the Sanjak of Smederevo being ruled by these renegade janissaries independently from the Ottoman government. Several district chiefs were murdered in the Slaughter of the Knezes on February 4, 1804, by the renegade janissaries. This sparked the First Serbian Uprising (1804–13), the first phase of the Serbian Revolution. Despite suppression of the uprising in 1813 and Hadži Prodan's Revolt in 1814, the Second Serbian Uprising led by Duke Miloš Obrenović succeeded with creation of semi-independent Principality of Serbia in 1817 (confirmed with Ferman from Mahmud II in 1830), gained independence in 1878 by Treaty of San Stefano and evolved to Kingdom of Serbia in 1882. This marked the end of the Sanjak.

Economy

The Sanjak of Smederevo was one of six Ottoman sanjaks with most developed shipbuilding (besides sanjaks of Vidin, Nicopolis, Požega, Zvornik and Mohač).

Governors

• Ali Bey Mihaloğlu (1462–1507)
• Kučuk Bali-beg (1526)
• Hadži Mustafa Pasha (1793–1801)
• Bekir Pasha (1804)
• Suleyman Pasha (–1815)
• Marashli Ali Pasha (1815–17)