Death in Monastir

This is my fathers hometown Monastir [1](Manastir) TR/BitolaMavi Boncuk | Canons turcs pris à Monastir [soldats turcs tués à côté d'un canon sur le champ de bataille] /Turkish Canons in Monastir [Turkish soldiers killed next to a canon in the battle field.


From 1382 to 1912, Manastır (now Bitola) was part of the Ottoman Empire. For several centuries, Turks were a majority in this city, while the villages were populated mostly with Slavs. Evliya Çelebi says in his Book of Travels that the city had 70 mosques, several coffee-tea rooms, a bazaar (market) with iron gates and 900 shops. Manastır became a sanjak centre in the Rumeli eyalet (Ottoman province).
In late 19th century, it became the second-biggest city in the wider southern Balkan region after Salonica. The city is also known as "city of consuls", because 12 diplomatic consuls resided here during the period 1878–1913 [2].

In 1864, Manastır became the center of Monastir eyalet which included the sanjaks of Debre, Serfiçe, Elbasan, Manastır (Bitola), Görice and towns of Kırcaova, Pirlepe, Florina, Kesriye and Grevena.

[1]The name Bitola is derived from the old Slavic word Obitel (monastery or abode), since the city was formerly noted for its monastery. When the meaning of the name was no longer understood, it lost its prefix "o".For the Ottoman Turk it was always Manastir.

[2] Great Britain 1851 / Austro-Hungarian 1851/ French 1854 / Greece 1859/Russia 1860/Serbia 1888/Italy 1895/Romania 1895/Bulgaria 1897/ Source