Rumelia

'Land of the Romans';[a] Turkish: Rumeli; Greek: Ρωμυλία) was the name of a historical region in Southeastern Europe that was administered by the Ottoman Empire, roughly corresponding to the Balkans.

The region remained primarily populated by Christians; though gradually, the Albanians, Bosniaks and Pomaks, as well as many Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians and Vlachs, converted to Islam.

[4] The name "Rumelia" was ultimately applied to a province composed of central Albania and northwestern Macedonia, with Bitola being the main town.

Following the administrative reorganization made by the Ottoman government between 1870 and 1875, the name Rumelia ceased to correspond to any political division.

Eastern Rumelia was constituted as an autonomous province of the Ottoman Empire by the Treaty of Berlin (1878),[4] but on September 6, 1885, after a bloodless revolution, it was united with Bulgaria.

Map of Rumelia in 1801
Map of Rumelia in 1795
Rumeli Hisarı (Rumelian Fortress, 1452) on the European shore of the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul