The publication is the fruition of the author’s thorough and long-term study of the sources both in the Ottoman language and their European counterparts and the homogeneous press of Constantinople, which relate to and have dialectical representations of the history of Xanthi and its province during the late 19th century and the early 20th century.

This editorial initiative of F.E.X. was undertaken with the first motive that always governs its decisions and the general way in which it perceives its priorities and actions, which is none other than the undivided interest and love for the promotion of the history, culture, society, and multiculturalism of Xanthi.

“During the turbulent times of the long and violent change of political sovereignty in the region of Xanthi (the second half of the 14th century), the new rulers, the Ottomans, showed from the beginning that they understood the strategic importance of the site. The general conclusion that emerges from an examination of the events is related to the strategic position of Xanthi and its hinterland, through which the major military arteries from the capital to the European provinces used to pass, and concludes that all factors dictated the careful consolidation of Ottoman rule. This was one of the main components that had shaped the historical role of the region, in earlier periods and continued to determine the course of history throughout Ottoman rule. The place names, which are the imprints of the historical layers in the organized social space, reveal places that kept their historical significance intact for centuries or lost it temporarily and then regained it or even lost it permanently. Finally, the historical factors that influenced the conditions from the early Ottoman period onwards require the study of this area as an administrative and economic entity whose characteristics were not reflected, in the short but in the long term.