According to the Ottoman censuses of 1881/1893, the city and its environs (the central "kaza" of the Sanjak of Ioannina), had a population comprising 4,759 Muslims, 77,258 Greek Orthodox (including both Greek and Albanian speakers), 3,334 Jews and 207 of foreign nationality. While a number of Turkish-language schools were established at the time, Greek-language education retained its prominent position. Even the city's prominent Muslim families preferred to send their children to well-established Greek institutions, notably the "Zosimaia". As a result, the dominance of the Greek language in the city continued: the minutes of the city council were kept in Greek, and the official newspaper, "Vilayet", established in 1868, was bilingual in Turkish and Greek.