The social-cultural life in macedonian geography till the XIXth century

The Social-Cultural Life in Macedonian Geography Till the XIXth CenturyThe subject of thesis is ?The Social-Cultural Life in Macedonian Geography Till the XIXth Century?. While determining Macedonian geography, it is essential to separate the terms of country and geographical region from one another.Macedonian region, which has been a human intersection point throughout history and surrounded by Albanians in the west, Serbians in the North, Bulgarians in the east and Hellenistic world in the south, is located at a very sensitive area where various powers, cultures and understandings cross. Although Macedonia could have been a bridge among these societies, it has mostly been a region of conflict. The cultural evolution experienced by Macedonian region under the rule of Ottoman Empire in the 18th century is the subject of this thesis.In the Introduction part, the geographical area of the subject has been determined, and historical background of that region until its falling under Ottomans? rule has been told.In the First Part, the period when Ottomans ruled Macedonian geography and their efforts for turkicizing the region thanks to the colonization method have been explained, and also some information about administrative structure was given.In the Second Part, there is certain information about ethnic groups in Macedonia. It is emphasized in the thesis that it is impossible to define ethnically the people lived in that area under Ottoman rule by today?s understanding. As the conditions in the 18th century are taken into consideration, both Ottoman?s ruling mechanism and Orthodox-Christian community believed that religious separation was much more important. And in the 19th century, the activities of Serbians, Bulgarians and Greeks, who were to try to prove their ethnical majority particularly in Macedonia as it was in whole Balkan region, reveal this fact clearly. The ethnical maps and figures prepared by Western scholars also display how extensive this ethic chaos was.The Third Part of the thesis has been allocated to clarification of social life in Macedonian geography. First, the concept of culture has been defined, and data about daily-life superstitions, common much visited places etc. shared by Muslims, Christians and Jews, who were classified by Ottomans on the basis of religious community strategy, have been mentioned. It has been underlined that the religious classification in the Ottoman society, contrary to common belief, never prevented people with different religious beliefs from living together and interacting culturally. Again in the same part, the issues of language and religion, as essential components of cultures, have been touched upon, and the dimension of interaction among languages and religions has been put forth.In the final part of the thesis, urban life, as one of the important components of cultural interaction, interaction in the urban fabric, the incident of brigandage in the 18th century, which is the first thing come to mind as the word Macedonia uttered, and the acceleration experienced in commercial life in that century have all been dealt with. Thanks to this acceleration, Orthodox tradesmen were to get rich, and they were to have the opportunity to make significant contacts with the West for the first time. After Orthodox-Christian community of the Ottoman Empire began to perceive western mentality, they would this time have cultural relations with the West; the resulting mentality change would ignite the fuse of ideas and activities for separation from Ottoman Empire. The same mentality change would sometimes lead to some ideological controversies with their church, as well.In the Conclusion, the influence of Ottoman Empire on the people of that region and how much they got affected have been discussed considering whole data.