Ottoman Rumelia
| Eyalet-i Rumeli | |||||
| Eyalet of the Ottoman Empire | |||||
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| Capital |
Edirne, Sofia, Monastir 41°1′N 21°20′E / 41.017°N 21.333°ECoordinates: 41°1′N 21°20′E / 41.017°N 21.333°E |
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| History | |||||
| • | Established | c. 1365 | |||
| • | Disestablished | 1867 | |||
| Area | |||||
| • | 1844 | 124,630 km2(48,120 sq mi) | |||
| Population | |||||
| • | 1844 | 2,700,000 | |||
| Density | 21.7 /km2 (56.1 /sq mi) | ||||
| Today part of |
 Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Greece Macedonia Serbia Kosovo Turkey
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The Eyalet of Rumeli or Rumelia (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت روم ایلی; Eyālet-i Rūm-ėli), also known as the Beylerbeylik of Rumeli, was a first-level province (beylerbeylik or eyalet) of the Ottoman Empire encompassing most of the Balkans ("Rumelia"). For most of its history it was also the largest and most important province of the Empire.
The capital was in Adrianople (Edirne), Sofia, and finally Monastir (Bitola). Its reported area in the 19th century was 48,119 square miles (124,630 km2).
The first beylerbey of Rumelia was Lala Shahin Pasha, who was awarded the title by Sultan Murad I as a reward for his capture of Adrianople (modern Edirne) in the 1360s, and given military authority over the Ottoman territories in Europe, which he governed effectively as the Sultan's deputy while the Sultan returned to Anatolia.
From its foundation, the province of Rumelia—initially termed beylerbeylik or generically vilayet ("province"), only after 1591 was the term eyalet used—encompassed the entirety of the Ottoman Empire's European possessions, including the trans-Danubian conquests like Akkerman, until the creation of further eyalets in the 16th century, beginning with the Archipelago (1533), Budin (1541) and Bosnia (1580).
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