The Laramans: The Exile of the Crypto Christian Albanians to Mihalic (1846-1848)

Abstract

The 19th century for the Ottoman Empire was a period in which hopeless measures were taken in desperate times. With the implementation of the Tanzimat Edict, it was accepted that a new era had started in the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire had difficulty in keeping up with this period. As a matter of fact, this new era has brought new political problems. Especially the Serbian and Greek revolts turned the Balkan communities into a bomb recaly to explode. The Tanzimat Edict declared in this period was unable to reduce this tension in the society. In this contect, those who had hidden religion exposed themselves after the Tanzimat Edict. This attracted a harsh response from the conservative sector of the society. The Government was a part of the effort to fulfill the requirements of the Tanzimat Edict. However, neither the conservative party nor the European states were easy to satisfy. This article examines the exposition of crypto-Christian Albanians and the following evients based on Ottoman archival documents, domestic and foreign sources.