Eastern Rumelia was a province of the Ottoman Empire that achieved a semi-autonomous status under the Treaty of Berlin, 1878, which revised the Treaty of San Stefano between Russia and the Ottomans a few months earlier. The Bulgarians in Rumelia revolted against Turkish rule on 6 September1885,and united the province with the Principality of Bulgaria soon thereafter. Its capital was Plovdiv (also known as Philippopolis).
Eastern Rumelia and its environs, from Literary and Historical Atlas of Europe, by J.G. Bartholomew, 1912
Postage stamps
The stamps of the 1881 and 1884 designs list the name of the province in Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic characters.
The province is remembered today by philatelists for having issued postage stamps from 1880 on. The first issue consisted of several kinds of overprints on stamps of Turkey, including "R.O.", a pattern of bars, and "ROUMELIE / ORIENTALE". These overprints are uncommon and extensively counterfeited.
Stamps of the contemporaneous Turkish design appeared in 1881, differing from Turkish stamps by having the inscription "ROUMELIE ORIENTALE" in small letters along the left side. A second issue of this design, with changed colors, was issued in 1884. Most of these types are quite common.
On 10 September1885, the existing Rumelian issues were overprinted with two different images of the Bulgarian lion, and then with the lion in a frame and "Bulgarian Post" in Cyrillic. As with the first overprints, these are uncommon, with prices ranging from US$6 to $200, and counterfeits are widespread.
From 1886 on, the province used Bulgarian stamps.
External links
Some stamp images (http://www02.so-net.ne.jp/~cherryh/stamp/e-rumelia.html)
More stamp images (http://solo18.abac.com/mward/collection/europe/bulgaria/erumelia.html)
The walnut and chestnut are mainly confined to eastern Rumelia.
According to the census of the 12th of January 1906, the population of northern Bulgaria was 2,853,704; of Eastern Rumelia, 1,174,535; of united Bulgaria, 4,028,239 or 88 per sq.
In Eastern Rumelia during the same period the" militia "was instructed by foreign officers; after the union it was merged in the Bulgarian army.
RUMELIA, or Roumelia (Turkish Rumili, " the land of the Romans," i.e.
the East Roman or Byzantine empire), a name commonly used, from the 15th century onwards, to denote that part of the Balkan Peninsula which was subject to Turkey.
Eastern Rumelia was constituted an autonomous province of the Turkish empire by the Berlin treaty of 1878; but on the 18th of September 1885, after a bloodless revolution, it was united with Bulgaria (q.v.).
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