Following the Ottoman conquest of Belgrade, the city’s development became based on the oriental tradition of the conqueror. The centre of Sandjak was moved from Smederevo to Belgrade. The city became a centre for preparing further conquests, where armies often returned with loot which brought in rapid economic progress. A number of merchants moved to Belgrade — from Dubrovnik, as well as Armenian, Greek, and Jewish traders, who managed the import and export trade. Local trade was controlled by the Muslim population, but the status of Serbian population also improved, so gradually they began returning to some parts of the city.
The first čaršija and the first public buildings outside the fortress had been constructed before the Ottomans came, along the main road by the Danube over the lower town, the docks, and the fish market. Later, the Long or the Lower čaršija developed, around which several hans (Čizma Han, Jani Han, Pirinč Han…) and several caravanserais among which the most famous was Mehmed pasha Sokolović’s one. There, most probably near Dunavska, today Dubrovačka Street, leading traders of Belgrade, who were from Dubrovnik, had their part of čaršija.
Education in Belgrade received a boost in the 1870s, and the minister of education Dimitrije Matić remarked: It is as clear as day that knowledge is light, and ignorance is darkness, that one is strength and the other is weakness, that one contributes to every-day progress and the other causes immobility, multiplies poverty and leads to disaster. Following the introduction of the law on primary schools in 1882, when Stojan Novaković was minister of education, six-years primary education for both girls and boys became obligatory in Serbia for the first time.
Following the Ottoman conquest of Belgrade, the city’s development became based on the oriental tradition of the conqueror. The centre of Sandjak was moved from Smederevo to Belgrade. The city became a centre for preparing further conquests, where armies often returned with loot which brought in rapid economic progress. A number of merchants moved to Belgrade — from Dubrovnik, as well as Armenian, Greek, and Jewish traders, who managed the import and export trade. Local trade was controlled by the Muslim population, but the status of Serbian population also improved, so gradually they began returning to some parts of the city.
The first čaršija and the first public buildings outside the fortress had been constructed before the Ottomans came, along the main road by the Danube over the lower town, the docks, and the fish market. Later, the Long or the Lower čaršija developed, around which several hans (Čizma Han, Jani Han, Pirinč Han…) and several caravanserais among which the most famous was Mehmed pasha Sokolović’s one. There, most probably near Dunavska, today Dubrovačka Street, leading traders of Belgrade, who were from Dubrovnik, had their part of čaršija.