Ottoman Bulgaria

Ottoman Bulgaria
Българските земи под османско владичество (Bulgarian)
Bŭlgarskite zemi pod osmansko vladichestvo
1396–1878
Location of Ottoman Bulgaria
Common languagesBulgarian
Religion
Sunni Islam (official, minority)
Bulgarian Orthodox Church (majority)
Demonym(s)Bulgarian
Government
Beylerbey, Pasha, Agha, Dey 
History 
1396
1878
Today part ofBulgaria

The history of Ottoman Bulgaria spans nearly 500 years, beginning in the late 14th century, with the Ottoman conquest of smaller kingdoms from the disintegrating Second Bulgarian Empire. In the late 19th century, Bulgaria was liberated from the Ottoman Empire, and by the early 20th century it was declared independent.

The brutal suppression of the Bulgarian April Uprising of 1876 and the public outcry it caused across Europe led to the Constantinople Conference, where the Great Powers tabled a joint proposal for the creation of two autonomous Bulgarian vilayets, largely corresponding to the ethnic boundaries drawn a decade earlier with the establishment of the Bulgarian Exarchate.

The sabotage of the Conference, by either the British or the Russian Empire (depending on theory), led to the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), whereby the much smaller Principality of Bulgaria, a self-governing, but functionally independent Ottoman vassal state was created. In 1885 the Ottoman autonomous province of Eastern Rumelia unified through a bloodless coup with the Principality of Bulgaria.