Ottoman Serbia

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Ottoman Serbia Историја Србије у Османском царству (Serbian)
1459–1804
Territory of modern Serbia (including Kosovo) under Ottoman rule during the 16th century.
Common languages	Serbian
Religion	Sunni Islam (official) Christianity (Serbian Orthodox Church, Roman Catholicism)
Demonym(s)	Serb
Government
Beylerbey, Pasha, Agha, Dey
History
• Conquest of Smederevo	1459
• Serbian Revolution	1804
Today part of	Serbia

Ottoman Serbia refers to the Ottoman period in the history of Serbia. Various regions of medieval Serbia came under Ottoman rule already at the end of the 14th century, while the Serbian Despotate fell in 1459. Northern regions of what is now the Republic of Serbia were incorporated into the Ottoman Empire during later conquests, from 1521 to 1552. Since the Habsburg expansion towards those northern regions, in 1699 and 1716, Ottoman rule was gradually reduced to Serbian territories south of the Sava and Danube rivers (1739). From 1804 to 1830, the Principality of Serbia was restored, as a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire. It gained independence in 1878, and expanded into southern regions, thus reducing Ottoman control to the historical region of the Old Serbia, that was liberated in 1912, thus ending Ottoman rule in Serbian lands.^[1]

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The Ottomans defeated the Serbs at the Battle of Maritsa in 1371, making vassals of the southern governors. Soon thereafter, Serbian Emperor Stefan Uroš V died. As he was childless and the nobility could not agree on a rightful heir, the empire was subsequently ruled by semi-independent provincial lords, who often feuded with one other. The most powerful of these, Lazar of Serbia, Duke of a region that now encompasses central Serbia, had not yet fallen under Ottoman rule and confronted them at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. The outcome of the battle was the mutual annihilation of both armies, but Serbia did eventually fall to the Ottomans. Stefan Lazarević, son of Lazar, succeeded him as ruler but had by 1394 become an Ottoman vassal. In 1402 he renounced Ottoman rule and became an ally of Hungary, and the years that followed were characterized by the Ottomans and Hungary battling over the territory of Serbia. In 1453, the Ottomans conquered Constantinople, and in 1458 Athens. In 1459, the Serbian Despotate was conquered by the Ottoman Empire as part of the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans.

Several minor, unsuccessful and short-lived revolts broke out against Ottoman rule, mostly with the help of the Habsburgs:

• 1594,
• 1688–1691,
• 1718–1739
• 1788.

In 1799, the dahia (janissary leaders, high-status infantry in the provinces) took over the Sanjak of Smederevo, renouncing the Sultan and imposing higher taxes. In 1804, they murdered the most notable intellectuals and nobles, known as the Slaughter of the Dukes. In retaliation, the Serbs took arms and by 1806 had killed or driven out all of the dahia, but the fight did not stop. When the Sultan sent the new Pasha into the province, the Serbs killed him. The revolt continued, in what would be known as the First Serbian Uprising, with the Serbs under Karađorđe defeating the Turks in several battles, liberating most of Central Serbia. An unsuccessful rebellion followed in 1814, and in 1815 the Second Serbian Uprising began. In 1817, Serbia was de facto independent as the Principality of Serbia.