The ‘Conquering’ Soldier-Merchants of the Balkans: Colonization, State Interventionism and Separatist Claims in the Danubian Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia (18th-19th Centuries)

This article studies the questions of self-rule and state intervention in the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, and the socio-economic life of a late frontier society against the backdrop of the eighteenth-century wave of internal colonization by Ottoman Muslims, mostly of Janissary backgrou...

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Main Author: Aysel Yıldız
Format: Article
Language:Bosnian
Published: Balkan Studies Foundation 2025-01-01
Series:Journal of Balkan Studies
Online Access:https://balkanjournal.org/jbs/article/view/73
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author Aysel Yıldız
author_facet Aysel Yıldız
author_sort Aysel Yıldız
collection DOAJ
description This article studies the questions of self-rule and state intervention in the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, and the socio-economic life of a late frontier society against the backdrop of the eighteenth-century wave of internal colonization by Ottoman Muslims, mostly of Janissary background. It aims at revealing complex relations between agents on three levels: local (voivodes, boyars, commoners), the regional (Janissaries and other soldiery) and the imperial; while also examining the influx of Muslims into the Principalities and its consequences as an interplay between various claims of trading rights, provisionist policies implemented by the imperial centre and the autonomous desires of the native nobility. The paper contends that the tributary status of the Principalities provided a major advantage in protecting the local population against Muslim penetration, as manifested in the ensuing direct intervention of the Porte and consequent trade restrictions. From the mid-eighteenth century onwards, the policy of keeping the Muslim-Ottoman presence and activities in the region at a minimum and obtaining full liberty of trade became an important component in the struggle for economic detachment from the Ottoman orbit, which in the long run contributed to the nation-state formation in Romania.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2671-3675
2671-3659
language Bosnian
publishDate 2025-01-01
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series Journal of Balkan Studies
spelling doaj-art-d00c3c6dcd4c453d94ea9ea09779a2852025-01-23T12:07:35ZbosBalkan Studies FoundationJournal of Balkan Studies2671-36752671-36592025-01-0173710.51331/A05173The ‘Conquering’ Soldier-Merchants of the Balkans: Colonization, State Interventionism and Separatist Claims in the Danubian Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia (18th-19th Centuries)Aysel Yıldız0Institute for Mediterranean Studies (I.M.S.) Foundation for Research & Technology, Hellas (F.O.R.T.H.)This article studies the questions of self-rule and state intervention in the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, and the socio-economic life of a late frontier society against the backdrop of the eighteenth-century wave of internal colonization by Ottoman Muslims, mostly of Janissary background. It aims at revealing complex relations between agents on three levels: local (voivodes, boyars, commoners), the regional (Janissaries and other soldiery) and the imperial; while also examining the influx of Muslims into the Principalities and its consequences as an interplay between various claims of trading rights, provisionist policies implemented by the imperial centre and the autonomous desires of the native nobility. The paper contends that the tributary status of the Principalities provided a major advantage in protecting the local population against Muslim penetration, as manifested in the ensuing direct intervention of the Porte and consequent trade restrictions. From the mid-eighteenth century onwards, the policy of keeping the Muslim-Ottoman presence and activities in the region at a minimum and obtaining full liberty of trade became an important component in the struggle for economic detachment from the Ottoman orbit, which in the long run contributed to the nation-state formation in Romania.https://balkanjournal.org/jbs/article/view/73
spellingShingle Aysel Yıldız
The ‘Conquering’ Soldier-Merchants of the Balkans: Colonization, State Interventionism and Separatist Claims in the Danubian Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia (18th-19th Centuries)
Journal of Balkan Studies
title The ‘Conquering’ Soldier-Merchants of the Balkans: Colonization, State Interventionism and Separatist Claims in the Danubian Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia (18th-19th Centuries)
title_full The ‘Conquering’ Soldier-Merchants of the Balkans: Colonization, State Interventionism and Separatist Claims in the Danubian Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia (18th-19th Centuries)
title_fullStr The ‘Conquering’ Soldier-Merchants of the Balkans: Colonization, State Interventionism and Separatist Claims in the Danubian Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia (18th-19th Centuries)
title_full_unstemmed The ‘Conquering’ Soldier-Merchants of the Balkans: Colonization, State Interventionism and Separatist Claims in the Danubian Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia (18th-19th Centuries)
title_short The ‘Conquering’ Soldier-Merchants of the Balkans: Colonization, State Interventionism and Separatist Claims in the Danubian Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia (18th-19th Centuries)
title_sort conquering soldier merchants of the balkans colonization state interventionism and separatist claims in the danubian principalities of wallachia and moldavia 18th 19th centuries
url https://balkanjournal.org/jbs/article/view/73
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AT ayselyıldız conqueringsoldiermerchantsofthebalkanscolonizationstateinterventionismandseparatistclaimsinthedanubianprincipalitiesofwallachiaandmoldavia18th19thcenturies