Description

A unique hand-drawing in ink embraces the area of what is today the northmost point of Bulgaria on the river Timor, close to the town Balei, on the border with Serbia. The map shows the land between a course of the Timok river, going from the south to north part on the right-hand side, and a course of so called Old Timok – a partly dried river course, closed by a Turkish damp in the south.

The notes are written in Serbian Cyrillic and in Ottoman Turkish and the map is confirmed by official Ottoman stamps and Serbian and Turkish signatures.

The map was drawn in 1873, when new borders between the Ottoman Empire and the Balkans countries were set. In the same year the Banat Military Frontier, today split between Serbia and Romania, was disestablished. In 1876, Serbia declared war on the Ottoman Empire, proclaiming its unification with Bosnia. The formal independence of Serbia was internationally recognized at the Congress of Berlin in 1878.