MACEDONIA DURING THE TURKISH RULE
(end of the 14th - beginning of the 20th century) It was a long period of five hundred years (1395 - 1912) when Macedonia within her historic and ethnic borders shared the destiny of the powerful Ottoman Empire, as one of the central Balkan regions. After the defeat by the allies at the river Maritsa (1371), where the Macedonian feudals Volkashin and Uglesha took part, the Turks penetrated in the territory of Macedonia and conquered it by the year of 1395.The successor of Volkashin, Prince Marko (1371 - 1395) and the Deyanovi brothers became vassals. Prince Marko protected the population from the Turkish violence and was praised as a great hero in the folk songs.The Turkish state in Macedonia imposed completely its military, political, administrative and tax system and started the Islamization of the Macedonian Christian population. This process was evident during the 16th and the 17th century especially in Western and Eastern Macedonia. Nevertheless, the Macedonian Islamized population (Macedonians Moslems nowadays) preserved the Macedonian native language.
During the Turkish period the Ohrid Archbishopric preserved the independence and turned into the main supporter of the Macedonian originality. Ohrid archbishops tried to start a liberation movement for Macedonia and other Balkan states from the Turkish yoke with assistance of the Western forces and Russia. The Macedonian inferior clergy was the protector of the cultural traditions, nourishing the vernacular and supporting the national feeling.
During the period from the 15th to 18th century the Ottoman Empire suffered military defeats; as a result of that it inforced the economy exploitation upon the Macedonian population. The timar-spahi system began to decay being replaced by a tchifflick one.
The enforced lawlessness and anarchy of the rebelled feudals, the high taxes and the corruptive local administration creating dissatisfaction and revolt among the Macedonian population manifested into a different form of resistance: haiduk life, rebellions and uprisings. The well known were the Prilep-Mariovo rebellion (1564/65), and the Karposh uprising (1689/90) which was put down with bloodshed by the Turkish authority.
After the repeal of the Ohrid Archbishopric autocephality and its subordination under the jurisdiction of the Constantinople Patriarchite (1767), the social circumstances aggravated in Macedonia. The feudal mutual struggles provoked migration of the Macedonian peasants into towns. At the beginning of the 19th century the handicrafts, the trading and the Macedonian middle class became developed. Except Salonica and Bitola (the main administrative and economic centres) the towns of Seres, Castoria, Prilep, Skopje, Veles etc. became developed at the same time. The population made mutual contacts during the usual fairs, breaking up the existing autarchy.
The conditions for both - the extensive integration of the Macedonian population and the development of the Macedonian national conscience were created. Despite the five century long Turkish rule, the Macedonian people preserved and nourished the national identity, vernacular language, the Orthodox religion, folklore, tradition and culture. The second half of the 19th century was characterized by the national struggle for liberation and foundation of the Macedonian state.