, with the
sanjaks of Salonica, Siroz and Drama Serres fell to the
Ottoman Empire on 19 September 1383, and initially formed a fief of
Evrenos Beg, who brought in
Yörük settlers from
Sarukhan. Although never rising to particular prominence within the Ottoman Empire, Serres became also the site of a mint from 1413/14 on. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, Serres was an autonomous
beylik under a succession of
derebeys, within the
Sanjak of Salonica. Siroz became a regular province by 1846, during the
Tanzimat reforms, as a
sanjak of the
Salonica Eyalet (later
Salonica Vilayet), encompassing the towns of
Drama,
Melnik, Timurhisar (
Sidirokastro), Nevrekop (
Gotse Delchev) and Lissa. Drama was created as a
separate sanjak centre shortly after, and by 1912, the last year of its existence, the
sanjak of Serres encompassed the
kazas of Serres proper, Zihne (
Nea Zichni), Melnik, Razlik (
Razlog),
Petrich, Timurhisar (
Sidirokastro), Djuma-i Bala (
Blagoevgrad) and Nevrekop (
Gotse Delchev). The province was dissolved when occupied by
Bulgarian troops in the
First Balkan War. In 1913, after the
Second Balkan War, the town of Serres and the southern half of the
sanjak became part of Greece. ==Demographics==