Abstract: The article presents the French diplomatic documents as an original historical source for the regional studies of the Balkans in the 19th century. The focus is on several main points: where French diplomatic documents are kept nowadays; what is the family environment, education and professional training of the French consuls in view of their diplomatic activity; what are the types of information and the channels of information in the French consular network in the Balkans during the period; what is the organization and activity of the French consular network with a view to assessing the significance of the information contained in consular reports and correspondence. The purpose of the article is to give a general idea of the French diplomatic documents in the 19th century and to answer the question of how reliable the information contained in them is about the regional studies of the Balkans, in particular the Bulgarian lands, during this period.

Keywords: French diplomatic documents, French consuls, French consular network, Balkans, Ottoman empire, 19th Century

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