TRENDEFRARAtlas of the Sultans · Cities and countries
5 cities
The lands of today's Bulgaria joined the Ottoman state in the second half of the 14th century and were part of Rumelia for almost five centuries.
Plovdiv was taken in 1361, Sofia in 1383 and Tarnovo in 1393. After the Russo-Ottoman War of 1877–1878, the Treaty of Berlin created an autonomous Principality of Bulgaria under Ottoman suzerainty; Eastern Rumelia joined it in 1885. Bulgaria declared its independence in 1908.
According to Ottoman chroniclers, Lala Şahin's forces took the city right after the conquest of Edirne.
The city came under Ottoman rule in the early 1380s; it is said to have been taken in Murad I's campaign of 1383.
During Grand Vizier Çandarlı Ali Pasha's winter campaign the city was taken without a fight.
After a long, fierce siege Bayezid I retook the city on 17 June 1393; the capital of the Bulgarian tsardom became Ottoman.
Varna came under Ottoman rule during Bayezid I's Bulgarian campaign; Mehmed I secured it for good when he took Dobruja in 1419.
According to the TDV encyclopedia the town must have come under Ottoman rule this year.
In the war between Bayezid's sons, Musa Çelebi seized the city and had its walls torn down.
During Hunyadi's campaign Murad II had the city burned so that it could not serve the Hungarians as a base.
Near the city Murad II defeated the crusader army at the Battle of Varna.
In the war of 1828–1829 the Russian army of Nicholas I took the city after a three-month siege.
It was briefly occupied by Russia during the Russo-Turkish War.
Under the Treaty of Adrianople the city was returned to the Ottomans.
In the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 the Russian army took the city on 24 June 1877.
The town fell after Gazi Osman Pasha's long defence against the Russo-Romanian army in July–December 1877.
After the war of 1877–1878 the city joined Eastern Rumelia, an autonomous Ottoman province.
After the Turkish population had left, Russian forces entered on 3 January 1878; in 1879 the city became the capital of the Principality of Bulgaria.
After the war of 1877–1878 the city passed to the Principality of Bulgaria created by the Treaty of Berlin.
The Principality of Bulgaria took over Eastern Rumelia and the city.
Source: TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, article “BULGARİSTAN” (in Turkish) and the atlas's city pages. Present-day borders are used.