The current city of Malatya was founded in 1838, with the old site of Mitilene now designated as Old Malatya. The reason behind the displacement of the city center was that the Ottoman army settled and stayed, probably by seizing from its settlers, in the previous city center, in the winter of 1838–39, before to take the road for Battle of Nezib in 1849. Because of this, citizens of the Malatya established the new city based on a near town called Aspuzu. The city saw rapid expansion in the 19th century, and by the end of the century it had around 5000 households, 50 mosques, six madrasas, nine inns and five Turkish baths. Ottoman sources also recorded ten churches. In 1889 and 1890, Malatya was struck by two large fires that destroyed thousands of shops. The city was then hit by the 1893 Malatya earthquake, which killed 1300, destroying 1200 houses and four mosques. A cholera outbreak that subsequently took place in 1893 killed 896 people. The destroyed buildings were rebuilt in 1894.