The Province of Salonika during the Greek Rebellion of 1821 and Measures Taken Against the Rebellion

The Greek rebellion, which broke out under the leadership of Aleksander Ypsilantis in 1821 in Wallachia and Moldavia, extended rapidly to the regions where mainly populated by Greek subjects and the intervention of the Ottoman forces was difficult such as Peloponnese and Aegean Islands, then spread to the province of Selanik which was one of the major provinces in Rumelia. The revolt in the peninsula of Chalkidiki, in the island of Thasos and in the town of Naoussa led by Emmanuel Papas and organized by monasteries in the Month Athos which is one of important spiritual centres of the Orthodox world and lasted for about a year in these areas. The present study examines the outbreak and spread of the rebellion in Thessalonica; the policies and measures that the Ottoman state and the local administrators had taken during and after the rebellion based on the Ottoman archival documents and Greek source, and also try to shed light on the methods by which the rebellion is suppressed at the regional scale and the policies of the state against the Greek rebels after the revolt. It also argues that the local rulers of the province were constantly in contact with the Sublime Port during the rebellion, and regularly tried to fulfil imperial orders from Istanbul, and struggled with rebels within the framework of a central suppressing plan.