A STRATEGIC PORT CITY IN THE BALKANS FOR THE OTTOMAN STATE IN THE XIX CENTURY: GOLOS

Abstract

The dominance of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans lasted for about five hundred and fifty years and during this time the Balkan geography always maintained its strategic importance for the Ottoman Empire. Port cities were one of the most important places in the region for the state. In this context, Golos, which is an important port city in the Balkans for the Ottoman Empire, was dominated by the Turks at the end of the XIV century and displayed a rapid development graph from the middle of the XIX century. This rapid development in almost every area affected the silhouette of the city. Golos, which is a small and quiet settlement, gained the appearance of a modern port city as a result of rapid development with planned construction. Golos, which was extremely important for the Ottoman Empire in terms of commercial, military and geopolitical-geostrategic emerged from the Ottoman sovereignty in 1881 when the region of Thessaly was left to Greece.
This study discussed the rapid development of the city of Golos in the Trikala Sanjak. The reasons for the rapid development after 1830s, of Golos which entered the Ottoman domination at the end of the XIV century and was a small settlement of the Trikala Sanjak until the middle of the XIX century, were discussed