Sanjak of Gümülcine

Sancak-i Gümülcine
Sanjak of the Ottoman Empire
←   ←   ← 1878–1912 →
1907 Ottoman map of the Adrianople Vilayet, with the Sanjak of Gümülcine as the vilayet's westernmost province
Capital		Gümülcine
History
•	Established	1878
•	First Balkan War	1912
Today part of		Bulgaria Greece

The Sanjak of Gümülcine (Ottoman Turkish: Sancak-i Gümülcine, Greek: Υποδιοίκησις Γκιουμουλτζίνας, Bulgarian: Гюмюрджински санджак) was a second-level province (sanjak) of the Ottoman Empire in Thrace, forming part of the Adrianople Vilayet. Its capital was Gümülcine, modern Komotini in Greece.

History and administrative division

The sanjak of Gümülcine was created in 1878 out of the territory of the sanjaks of Gallipoli and Filibe (Plovdiv) from the Adrianople Vilayet, as well as parts of the sanjak of Drama of the Salonica Vilayet.

It comprised six sub-provinces or kazas, which were further subdivided into nahiyes:

• Kaza of Gümülcine (mod. Komotini): Seyh Cumaya, Kirli or Girli, Çakal, Celebiye, Şehir (Gümülcine urban area), Saphane, Yasi, Maronya, Kura-i Cedid
• Kaza of Sultan Yeri (mod. Krumovgrad): Ada, Tashli, Güve, Teke, Mestanlı
• Kaza of Ahi Çelebi (mod. Smoljan): Ismilan, Çitak, Karsili, Pasavik, Tozburun, Söğütçük
• Kaza of İskeçe (mod. Xanthi): Yenice, Sakar Kaya, Celepli, Cedid, Yassiören
• Kaza of Eğri Dere (mod. Ardino): Mesgulli, Küçük Viran, Davud, Hotaşlı and Dolastir, Rupçoz (retroceded by Bulgaria in 1886)
• Kaza of Dari Dere (mod. Zlatograd): Şahin, Ak Bunar

The sanjak survived until it was occupied by Bulgarian troops in the First Balkan War (1912–1913), after which it came under Bulgarian control. In 1919, after World War I, the southern portions came under Allied administration with the Treaty of Neuilly, and in 1920 they came under Greek control, forming the prefectures of Xanthi and Rhodope.