Демографски и етнорелигиозни процеси в Западните Родопи през XV–XVIII век
Demographic, Ethnic and Religious Processes in the Western Rhodopes in the 15th through the 18th Century

Summary/Abstract: This article is based on its author's latest findings concerning the ethnic and religious transformations that took place in the Western Rhodopes in the 15th through the 18th century. By analyzing some Ottoman documents from the archives in Sofia and Istanbul, which have so far remained unused, the author aims at reconsidering the possible reasons and motives that made the Bulgarian-speaking population in the Rhodopes (the so-called Pomaks) adopt Islam. Special attention has been paid to the inter-related issues of the Turkish Muslim colonization and the process of Islamization, as the two of them together led to certain changes in the ethnic and religious map of the Balkan lands conquered by the Ottomans. The article presents some newly found material as well: it supports the author's view that the spread of Islam was a gradual process stimulated by certain ethnic, cultural, social and economic factors, and not the result of single acts of enforced conversion which was, until recently, the prevalent view in Bulgarian historiography.

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