The castle of Bouka ( el, Κάστρο της Μπούκας, from the Italian word ''bocca'') was the first major Ottoman fortification of

Preveza Preveza ( el, Πρέβεζα, ) is a city in the region of Epirus, northwestern Greece, located on the northern peninsula at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf. It is the capital of the regional unit of Preveza, which is part of the region of Epiru ...

, in northwestern

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. It was constructed by the Ottomans in 1478, in order to control the straits of the

Ambracian Gulf The Ambracian Gulf, also known as the Gulf of Arta or the Gulf of Actium, and in some official documents as the Amvrakikos Gulf ( el, Αμβρακικός κόλπος, translit=Amvrakikos kolpos), is a gulf of the Ionian Sea in northwestern Greec ...

.Nikos D. Karabelas, 2010
''The castle of Bouka (1478-1701)''

n Greek N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

Nikos D. Karabelas, 2015
''The Ottoman conquest of Preveza and its first castle''
/ref> In 1701, the Venetians blew the castle up before they handed Preveza over to the Ottomans, according to the terms of the

Treaty of Karlowitz The Treaty of Karlowitz was signed in Karlowitz, Military Frontier of Archduchy of Austria (present-day Sremski Karlovci, Serbia), on 26 January 1699, concluding the Great Turkish War of 1683–1697 in which the Ottoman Empire was defeated by the ...

.Nikos D. Karabelas, 2012
''The first phase of the castle of İç kale in Preveza''
pp. 48-49. The castle of Bouka was standing upon the site which today is called "Paliosaraga" (Παλιοσάραγα, "Old

Seraglio A seraglio, serail, seray or saray (from fa, سرای, sarāy, palace, via Turkish and Italian) is a castle, palace or government building which was considered to have particular administrative importance in various parts of the former Ott ...

"). The summer seraglio of

Ali Pasha Ali Pasha was the name of numerous Ottoman pashas named Ali. It is most commonly used to refer to Ali Pasha of Ioannina. People * Çandarlı Ali Pasha (died 1406), Ottoman grand vizier (1387–1406) * Hadım Ali Pasha (died 1511), Ottoman grand v ...

Yannina Ioannina ( el, Ιωάννινα ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus, an administrative region in north-western Greece. According to the 2011 census, the ci ...

was built on the castle's remains, during the early 1810s. After Preveza's

capture Capture may refer to: *Asteroid capture, a phenomenon in which an asteroid enters a stable orbit around another body *Capture, a software for lighting design, documentation and visualisation *"Capture" a song by Simon Townshend *Capture (band), an ...

by the

Greek Army The Hellenic Army ( el, Ελληνικός Στρατός, Ellinikós Stratós, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece. The term ''Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is the ...

in 1912, an army supply unit was based on the site of the castle. Today, there are very few remains of the castle of Bouka, despite the fact that the site has generally not been built up.

History

The castle was built by the Ottomans in 1478, fifteen years after their definite occupation of the region of

and Riniassa. The date of the castle's construction is also mentioned in the Short Chronicle number 71.7: ἔκτισεν τὴν Πρέβεζαν ἐπὶ ἔτους ‚ςϡπς΄, " he fortified Preveza in the year 6986 '' nno Mundi'". The year 6986 ''Anno Mundi'' corresponds to 1.9.1477-31.8.1478 in the

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years dif ...

. The construction of the castle at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf was immediately recognized by

Leonardo III Tocco Leonardo III Tocco (after 1436 – before August 1503) was the last ruler of the Despotate of Epirus, ruling from the death of his father Carlo II Tocco in 1448 to the despotate's fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1479. Leonardo was one of the last ...

Count of Cephalonia The County Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos existed from 1185 to 1479 as part of the Kingdom of Sicily. The title and the right to rule the Ionian islands of Cephalonia and Zakynthos was originally given to Margaritus of Brindisi for his serv ...

, in a manuscript letter written on 31 March 1478, as a danger for the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...

. Because of this, he sent his relative, Bogordo di Tocco, to Venice in order to seek its assistance. In this letter the castle is mentioned as "''castello ala bucca delo gulfo''" ("castle at the mouth/entrance of the gulf").According t
Nikos D. Karabelas, 2015
p. 978: A letter by Leonardo III Tocco addressed to Filippo

Foscari The House of Foscari () was an ancient Venetian patrician family, which reached its peak in the 14th–15th centuries, culminating in the dogeship of Francesco Foscari (1423–1457). History According to family tradition, they originated from ...

, member of a powerful Venetian family, written in Lefkas on 31 March 1478, filed in the Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Scuola di Santa Maria del Rosario, b. 29, Processo X, ff. 25r. The letter has been published apart from Karabelas, in the following papers: Professor Dr. Chryssa Maltezou, Προσωπογραφικά βυζαντινής Πελοποννήσου και ξενοκρατούμενου ελληνικού χώρου (με αφορμή τον φάκελο Foscari της Βενετίας), ''Βυζαντινά Σύμμεικτα'' vol. 5, 1983, pp. 1-27; Spyros N. Asonitis, ''Το Νότιο Ιόνιο κατά τον Όψιμο Μεσαίωνα. Κομητεία Κεφαλληνίας, Δουκάτο Λευκάδας, Αιτωλοακαρνανία'', Athens, 1985, p. 212, subnote 152. During the first Ottoman years, the castle became known as ''Preveze kalesi'', and eventually gave its name to the small human settlement which was formed north of the castle.Nikos D. Karabelas, 2017
''The fortifications of a strategic Passage''
n Greek with English abstract pp. 102-103. The first time that the name Preveza has been recorded on a clearly dated document is in a letter by f. Leonardo Michiel of

Corfu Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

, in 1481. The castle was presumably strengthened by the Ottomans in 1486-87, as well as in 1495 in order to ward off the imminent danger from the West, due to the conquering plans of the French king Charles VIII, which, however, were eventually abandoned. The castle was also improved in 1530, in 1552 during the reign of

Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I ( ota, سليمان اول, Süleyman-ı Evvel; tr, I. Süleyman; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the West and Suleiman the Lawgiver ( ota, قانونى سلطان سليمان, Ḳ� ...

, and by the Venetians, after they

conquered Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...

Preveza, in 1684. When the great Ottoman traveler

Evliya Çelebi Derviş Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi ( ota, اوليا چلبى), was an Ottoman explorer who travelled through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years, recording ...

visited Preveza, around 1670, he described Bouka as a castle guarded by a garrison of 250 soldiers, with narrow streets, and about 100 small houses without gardens, as well as a mosque constructed by Sultan Süleyman I (r. 1520-66). Outside the walls of the castle were 300 large houses with gardens and a bazaar with 100 shops.Emily Neumeier, Trans-imperial encounter on the Ionian Sea: A French engineer's account of constructing Ottoman fortifications, in
''Tessarae of Preveza's History α΄''
Preveza, 2018, p. 15. The castle was demolished by the Venetians in 1701, before surrendering the area to the Ottomans, in accordance to the provisions of the

and other bilateral agreements. Immediately after the demolition of the castle of Bouka and the handing over of Preveza, the Ottomans started constructing a large castle in order to defend the town and the straits of the Ambracian Gulf. The new stronghold was built one kilometre north of the demolished castle, at a distance of a cannon-shot from it, and it is now known as (its name during the late Ottoman times was ).

References

Sources

*Nikos D. Karabelas, 2010
The castle of Bouka (1478-1701). Fortified Preveza through sources
in: ''Preveza B. Proceedings of the Second International Symposium for the History and Culture of Preveza (16–20 September 2009)'', Preveza, 2010, vol. I, pp. 395–433; Editors: Marina Vrelli-Zachou, Christos Stavrakos; Publishers:

University of Ioannina The University of Ioannina (UoI; Greek: Πανεπιστήμιο Ιωαννίνων, ''Panepistimio Ioanninon'') is a university located 5 km southwest of Ioannina, Greece. The university was founded in 1964, as a charter of the Aristotle Un ...

Municipality of Preveza A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

, Actia Nicopolis Foundation; / *Nikos D. Karabelas, 2012
Ottoman Fortifications in Preveza in 1702. The First Phase of the Castle of İç Kale
''Journal of the Center for Ottoman Studies'', Ankara Universit
''(OTAM) 32''
Ankara, 2012, pp. 47–66 *Nikos D. Karabelas, 2015
The Ottoman conquest of Preveza and its first castle
''Proceedings of the XVIth Congress of Turkish History (20–24 September 2010)'', Ankara, 2015, vol. 4.2, pp. 967–998; Publisher: Türk Tarih Kurumu; / *Nikos D. Karabelas, 2017
The fortifications of a strategic Passage
''Prevezanika Chronika'' 53-54, Preveza, 2017, pp. 99–140

Gallery

File:IAN 0936 zoom Genesio 1538 Preveza.jpg,

Woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

of the Castle of Bouka by Francesco Genesio, 1538 File:IAN 0105.jpg,

Etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

of the Castle of Bouka by Antonio Salamanca, 1540 c. File:IAN 0773.jpg, Plan of the castle of Bouka. Engraving by Giovanni Orlandi, 1605 File:The castle of Bouka Piri Reis Berlin.jpg, Coloured sketch of the castle of Bouka. After

Piri Reis Ahmet Muhiddin Piri ( 1465 – 1553), better known as Piri Reis ( tr, Pîrî Reis (military rank), Reis or ''Hacı Ahmet Muhittin Pîrî Bey''), was a Navigation, navigator, Geography in medieval Islam, geographer and Cartography, cartographer. ...

, beg. of the 17th c. File:IAN 0111 zoom Longhi 1684 Preveza.jpg,

of the Castle of Bouka by

Giuseppe Longhi Giuseppe Longhi (13 October 1766 – 12 January 1831) was an Italian engraver and writer. Biography Longhi was born in Monza, and initially trained at the Ambrosian Seminary, studying philosophy and letters. By the age of 20, he decided to beco ...

, 1684 c. File:IAN 0118 zoom.jpg,

of the Castle of Bouka by

Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi (1627 – 1691) was an Italian engraver and printer, active in Rome in the second half of the 17th century. His father, Giuseppe de Rossi (1570-1639), was the founder of the most important and active printing press ...

, 1687 File:IAN 0197 Loschge 1687 Preveza.tiff,

of the Castle of Bouka by Leonhard Loschge, 1687 File:IAN 0937 zoom Coronelli 1688 Preveza.jpg,

of the Castle of Bouka by

Vincenzo Coronelli Vincenzo Maria Coronelli (August 16, 1650 – December 9, 1718) was an Italian Franciscan friar, cosmographer, cartographer, publisher, and encyclopedist known in particular for his atlases and globes. He spent most of his life in Venice. Biogr ...

, 1688 File:The castle of Bouka.jpg, Detail of an oil painting by an unknown artist, c. 1690 File:IAN 0207.jpg,

of the Castle of Bouka by Johann Andreas Thelott, 1701 File:IAN 0219 Coronelli 1707 Preveza.jpg,

of the Castle of Bouka by

, 1707 File:IAN 0203 Coronelli 1707 Preveza.jpg,

of the Castle of Bouka by

, 1707 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bouka castle Preveza Ottoman fortifications in Epirus (region) 1478 establishments in the Ottoman Empire 15th-century fortifications in Greece Ruined castles in Greece Castles in Preveza