page_title: Sanjak of Vidin
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Sanjak of Vidin / Background
caption_attribution_description: This is a photo of Cultural Heritage site of Serbia number СК 284
context_page_description: The Sanjak of Vidin or the Vidin Sanjak was a sanjak in the Ottoman Empire, with Vidin as its administrative centre. It was established after the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396 out of the territories of the Tsardom of Vidin and in mid 15th century annexed some territories that belonged to the Serbian Despotate before Ottomans captured it.
context_section_description: After the major breakthrough into the Balkans at the end of the 14th century, the Ottomans were well aware of the strategic importance of Danube and decided to capture all important fortresses on its banks. The Tsardom of Vidin, which was under control of Ivan Sratsimir, became an Ottoman vassal state in 1393, and a strong Ottoman garrison was stationed in Vidin. Before the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396, Sratsimir surrendered the Ottoman garrison to the crusaders who were soon defeated, while Sratsimir was captured by the Ottomans and killed in 1397.
  According to the Ottoman tax registers  from 1454-55 the territory of the Sanjak included the following nahiyahs: Banya ( Sokobanja), Belgrad (present-day Belogradchik), Veleshnitsa, Vidin, Gelvie (Glavje), Zagorie, Isvrlig (Svrljig), Kladobo (Kladovo), Krivina, Timok, Tcherna reka/Crna reka and the following fortresses: Vidin, Banya ( Sokobanja), Belgrad (present-day Belogradchik),  Isvrlig (Svrljig) and Florentin. Some scholars consider that the regions of Negotin, Kljuc and partly Tcherna reka/Crna reka belonged prior to the Ottoman conquest to Serbian Despotate and were included in the Sanjak of Vidin after 1455, because the first census of the Sanjak of Vidin does not mention them. It is assumed (by historian Bojanić-Lukač and other historians who confirm her opinion) that after the final Ottoman conquest, it was necessary to populate this depopulated territory before its inclusion in the timar system of the Sanjak of Vidin. Until then it was a separate administrative unit, one of many Ottoman borderlands.
caption: Fethislam, Ottoman fortress near Kladovo
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