Ottoman Heritage in Southern Balkans: The Multicultural Port Town of Kavala

Abstract

Multiculturalism is one of the keystones in understanding the complexity of the Ottoman civilization. Especially in the provincial areas of the vast empire established by the Ottomans in almost six hundred years, it is possible to observe how multiculturalism and multi-ethnical components were a fundamental tool to glue together such diverse of populations and religions, in which each community had the possibility to maintain their distinctive collective identities, culture, rituals and practices. In the case of the town of Kavala in the Southern Balkans, that passed from Byzantine into the hands of the Ottoman rule after its conquest in 1391, it is possible to track how the town—through the centuries—became more and more a multicultural center, due to the economic and social dynamics in the society itself, up till the dramatic events of the Balkan Wars in 1912. The Ottoman town developed rapidly around its harbor and the trade activities and this paper wants to outline the urban environment of Kavala and its growth in the Ottoman time, from the conquest until its annexation to Greece. In a contemporary perspective, today it seems significant to widen the perception of how a vast tangible heritage left by the Ottoman civilization, crossing the borders of different nations, religions, customs and cultures, especially in the Balkan context, could be analyzed and incorporated in a bigger system to redefine the importance of such multicultural asset in a global manner. © 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.