Page "History of Bulgaria" Paragraph 48

The Ottoman system began declining by the 17th century and at the end of the 18th had all but collapsed.

Central government weakened over the decades and this had allowed a number of local Ottoman holders of large estates to establish personal ascendancy over separate regions.

During the last two decades of the 18th and first decades of the 19th centuries the Balkan Peninsula dissolved into virtual anarchy.

Bulgarian tradition calls this period the kurdjaliistvo: armed bands of Turks called kurdjalii plagued the area.

In many regions, thousands of peasants fled from the countryside either to local towns or ( more commonly ) to the hills or forests ; some even fled beyond the Danube to Moldova, Wallachia or southern Russia.

The decline of Ottoman authorities also allowed a gradual revival of Bulgarian culture, which became a key component in the ideology of national liberation.