It was composed of the kazas of Niš (Niş), Pirot (Şehirköy), Leskovac (Leskofça), Vranje (İvranye), Kuršumlija (Kurşunlu), Prokuplje (Ürküp) and Tran (Turan).

Toponyms such as Arbanaška and Đjake shows an Albanian presence in the Toplica and Southern Morava regions (located north-east of contemporary Kosovo) since the Late Middle Ages.

The Ottoman-Habsburg wars and their aftermath resulted in the city of Niš and the wider area losing a sizable part of its population, due to them having fled or death.

[3] Some Albanians from contemporary northern Albania and Western Kosovo settled in the Toplica and Morava regions in the second half of the 18th century, at times instigated by Ottoman authorities.

[3][4] Midhat Pasha was one of the most noteworthy sanjak-beys of Niš (1861–64) whose reforms in the sanjak were so beneficial that the sultan charged him with preparing the scheme for adapting them to the whole empire.