Nahiya Ljubović in the 15th and 16th Centuries

Abstract

With the establishment of the Ottoman administration and the new social and political system, the Vlachs of nahiya Ljubović kept their earlier system of living in the last decades of the 15th and during the 16th centuries.

In the register of the sanjak of Hercegovina from 1477, there are six ğamā‘ats listed in nahiya Ljubović, and in the last decade of the 15th century the total number of members of this Vlach community was 377 households and 443 major unmarried members. In the register of the sanjak of Hercegovina from 1540, in the villages of nahiya Ljubović the Vlachs and ploughmen were listed.

As with other Vlach groups, the relationship between them and the Ottoman authorities was marked by reciprocity. In short, the history of the Vlachs of nahiya Ljubović in the Ottoman period was marked by both the continuity and the changes. Their territory, organization, cattleraising economy represent the continuity, and changes are represented by integration into the Ottoman system where the resulting changes were mainly reflected in the loyalty to the Ottoman state, joining the Ottoman military class and taking over the responsibilities in the framework of the timar-system, as well as in the converting to Islam by a part of their population.