A Frenchman in Macedonia of 1854

[kostas68]

In 1854 the French Ami Boue published in Vienna his book <Recueil d'itineraires dans la Turquie d'Europe.Details geographiques,topographiques et statistiques sur cet empire>.

He starts from Eastern Macedonia and the Pashalik of Serres(today's prefectures of Serres,Kavala and Drama) :
<Vu sa partie tres montueuse dans le Rhodope il ne doit pas avoir une population au-dela de 100000 ames,qui comprend bon nombre de Grecs,surtout vers Serres>.
(Considering its very montainous part in the Rhodope it should not have a population beyond 100000 souls, which includes considerable Greeks, especially towards Serres).Page 151
Conclusion:In Eastern Macedonia weren't residing any ethnic <Macedonians>.

In page 153 he writes about the ethnicities that consist the population of Thessaloniki.There are mentioned Turks,Jews,Greeks and <other nations including enough of Armenians>.Conclusion:In Thessaloniki weren't residing any ethnic <Macedonians>.

In pages 154-155 he writes about the population of the rest of Thessaloniki's Pashalik: <Une population Grecque assez compacte s'y trouve surtout dans le Chalcidice>. (A rather compact Greek population is there especially in Chalcidike). <Le reste de la population du Paschalik est compose de bon nombre de Grecs et de Zinzares dans la portion S.O.,tandis que dans les autres districts ce sont surtout les Bulgares chretiens grecs,qui predominent ,quoiqu'ils soient melanges ca et la de quelques Serbes comme a Vodena.Les musulmans soit asiatiques,soit europeens...L'element albanais pur y est presque nul>. (The remainder of the population of Paschalik is composed of considerable of Greeks and Zinzares(Vlachs) in the S.O. parts, while in the other districts they are especially the Bulgarian Greek Christians, who prevail, though they are mixtures and of some Serbs as has Vodena.The Moslems either Asian, or European… the pure Albanian element is almost null there).
Conclusion:In these regions,Veroia,Naousa,Katerini,Halkidiki Edessa,Jiannitsa,Kilkis,Doiran,Avret Hissar,were living many Greeks,Vlachs, Bulgarian orthodox(Bulgarian Greek Christians) ,Serbs and Moslems but not ethnic <Macedonians>.


In page 208 he mentions <Bulgarian peasants> near Skopje(Ouskoub).

In page 211 he is in Skopje and writes about the population: <sa population est eminemment Bulgare,mais il y a aussi assez de Serbes et de Zinzares>.
(its population is eminently Bulgarian, but there are also enough Serbs and Zinzares(Vlachs).Conclusion:The population of Skopje was consisted of Bulgarians,Serbs and Vlachs.The Bulgarians were orthodox and are called below <Christians Grecs>.Ethnic <Macedonians> aren't mentioned nowhere.

In page 212 he writes about the totally population of the Pashalik of Skopje which was 600.000 that <the great mass are Bulgarians and Christians>.Below he writes that the Moslems are descendands of Turks or Bulgarians,Serbs and Albanians who converted to Islam.Conclusion:In the whole of the Skopje's Pashalik weren't any ethnic <Macedonians> living.

In page 244 he says about the 6000 inhabitants of Karatova that they are Bulgarians or Musulmans and below he writes: <Les Bulgares portent dans cette contree comme en Haute Moesie des muchoirs blancs enveloppes en forme de turbans autour de la tete>. (The Bulgarians carry in this region as into High Moesie white turbans around the head).Conclusion:Again no ethnic <Macedonians> found in FYROM's territory but only Bulgarians.

In page 249 he is in Novoselo where the inhabitants are Bulgarians,Greeks or Vlachs and Jews.Conclusion:Again the ethnic <Macedonians> are absent.

In page 252 he finds in Kavadartzi 3000 Bulgarians but not any <Macedonians>.

In page 254 we read that the inhabitants of Prilep are Bulgarians,Serbs and Zinzars(Vlachs).Conclusion:Another Scopian city without <Macedonian> inhabitants.

In page 256 we have again a mention about the <Bulgarian peasants>,this time near Bitola.

In page 257 he is in Monastir and he writes about the 35.000 inhabitants:The 17.000 are Moslems and from them 8.000 are Albanians,5.800 Slavs and 2.400 Turks.The orthodox Christians(Chretiens Grecs) are 12.500 and are consisted of 9.000 Slavs,3.500 Greeks,700 Zinzars(Vlachs) and there are also 1200 Albanian catholics,1400 Jews and 2000 Gypsies(Zingares).Conclusion:In Monastir weren't living any <Macedonians>.

In page 260 we can read that the totally population of the Pashalik of Monastir is 250.000 or 300.000 and they are Bulgarians,Albanians,Serbs,Greeks,Vlachs and Moslems.Conclusion:The ethnic <Macedonians> were absent from the whole of Monastir's Pashalik.

In page 262 we read again about Bulgarian villages and below that<Resna and Prespa are inhabited mainly by Bulgarians>.

In page 264 the author mentions some Bulgarian villages near Tetovo.

In page 275 he writes that the inhabitants of Kastoria are mainly Greeks but there are also Vlachs,Turks,jews,Albanians and Bulgarians.Ethnic <Macedonians> aren't mentioned.

In page 281 he is in Edessa(Vodena) and he finds only Greeks,Bulgarians and Vlachs(Zinzares).No ethnic <Macedonians> in <the residence of the ancient Macedonian kings> as he calls the city of Edessa.

In page 301,Egri-Palanka has 3000 inhabitants and as for their ethnicity we read: <Nous y fumes fort bien loges chez de bons Bulgares,qui firent tout ce qu'ils purent pour nous contenter>. (We smelled extremely well there cabins of good Bulgarians,which did all that they could to satisfy us) .

In page 304 we read about the 3000 Bulgarian inhabitants of Koumanovo.

In pages 306 and 307 we read about Kalkandel or Tetovo that its inhabitants are Bulgarians,Moslems,Albanians and Serbs who are orthodox Christians(Chretiens Grecs).


In page 309 he writes that the totally population of the Pashalik of Kalkandel(Tetovo) is 30.000-40.000 and is consisted of Bulgarians and Serbs who are Orthodox(de la religion Grecque) and of Albanian Moslems.There aren't mentioned <Macedoniens de la religion Grecque>.

The final conclusions are:
The only mentioned ethnicities in Macedonia of 1854 are:Greeks,Bulgarians,Turks,Albanians,Serbs,Vlachs ,Jews,Armenians and Gypsies.The author didn't met anywhere ethnic <Macedonians>.At that time didn't exist the Bulgarian Exarchate,it was established 16 years later,in 1870.All the orthodox Christians were under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople,there weren't the terms <Patriarchists> and <Exarchists> and therefore the author calls them <Chretiens Bulgares or Serbes de la religion Grecque> or <Bulgares Chretiens Grecs> and <Serbes Chretiens Grecs>.Thus,if there were any ethnic <Macedonians>,it would be impossible for the author to confuse them with the Bulgarians under the same term of <Exarchists>.He would call them <Macedoniens de la religion Grec> or <Macedoniens Chretiens Grecs>.
The Greeks were majority in the part of Macedonia that was liberated by them in the Balkan wars and the Bulgarians were majority in the whole of today's FYROM territory.

[chicagogeorge]

Thank you so much for this post!


Yet know sign of Makedonski! Quite a secretive beast wouldn't you say!

[kostas68]

I forgot to mention it yesterday but now i remembered and i'll add it:In the 5th line of the 2nd paragraph of page 257 we read about the mountain of Peristeri in Monastir:<Ainsi s'expliquerait aussi fort bien le nom Grec de Peristeri,pigeon,donne par les Grecs et les Zinzares,a la haute pyramide,qui domine cette ville>. (Thus would be also extremely well explained the Greek name of Peristeri, pigeon, given by the Greeks and Zinzares(Vlachs) ,to the high pyramid,which dominates this city) .

Many times when we say that the Vlachs are Greeks and always had a Greek consciousness,the Scopians claim that this is wrong,the Vlachs are a separated from the Greeks ethnicity who have been Hellenized by the Greek church and the Greek schools e.t.c but this is the better answer about the national consciousness of the Vlachs:Why did the Vlachs use Greek toponyms in 1854,in a region miles away from the Greek borders and in a time when neither the <Greek propaganda> existed in Macedonia nor the influence of the Greek schools?