Nomads, peasants and pastoral economies in Anatolia from a regional perspective, 1600-1645

309 Pages·2017·2.47 MB·English

by  Onur Usta

IN PURSUIT OF HERDS OR LAND? NOMADS, PEASANTS
AND PASTORAL ECONOMIES IN ANATOLIA FROM A
REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE
1600-1645

by

ONUR USTA

A thesis submitted to
The University of Birmingham
for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman
and Modern Greek Studies
School of History and Cultures
University of Birmingham
November 2016
University of Birmingham Research Archive

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Abstract
The documentary evidence used in this dissertation has been drawn from the Ottoman court
records and it is complemented by the data derıved from the fiscal registers. This dissertation
adopted a case-study approach to allow a deeper insight into the complexities of the rural history of
Ottoman Anatolia in the first half of the seventeenth century. These complexities are more related to
the methodological approaches which are based on the adaptation of the purported theories about
‘the general crisis of the seventeenth century’ to Ottoman history. Such misinterpretations put the
contention that a set of social, economic and ecological challenges associated with the Little Ice
Age put a lot of serious strains on the Ottoman state and society during the seventeenth century. By
adopting a critical approach to the arguments of such crisis-based theories that revolve around the
Celali rebellions and the phenomenon of the Little Ice Age, this dissertation aims to show through
the cases of Aintab, Urfa and Ankara that the countryside of Anatolia was more resilient to the so-
called challenges than it seems.
This dissertation examines the economic, demographic and ecological dynamics in rural
Anatolia in the period following the Celali rebellions from a regional perspective that takes into
consideration the local geographic and climatic characteristics. It focuses on a wide range of topics
that include types of farming, rural settlement patterns, change in rural settlements, and agrarian and
pastoral trends in the land use forms. It explores the pastoral and agricultural activities of the
nomadic people with the aim of highlighting their constructive in the rural economies of Anatolia.

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To Aslı with love and eternal gratitude
for making it possible

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Acknowledgements
Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude to my thesis supervisor Dr. Rhoads Murphey,
for his continuous support and patience for the entire process of my PhD journey. His excellent
guidance helped me explore various aspects of Ottoman history and broaden my horizons about the
nomads in Ottoman Empire. I would also like to thank Dr. Ruth Macrides, for her motivation and
encouragement, Dr. Archie Dunn for his valuable recommendations for further readings on nomads
and pastoralism, Dr. Warren Eastwood for his helpful guidance about environmental and climate
history, Dr. Oktay Özel, from the Department of History at İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University in
Ankara, for his inspiration to introduce me to the nomadic world of Ottoman Anatolia, and also Dr.
Fikret Yılmaz, from Istanbul Bahҫeşehir University, for his helpful guidance and expert advise
about the use of Ottoman fiscal registers. Besides, I would also like to thank my thesis examiners:
Dr. Marios Hadjianastasis, and Dr. James Baldwin, for their insightful comments and suggestions
on the use of court records as historical evidence and encouragements for further studies on rural
history of Ottoman Anatolia.
I am very grateful to Ҫanakkale Onsekiz Mart University and Turkish Higher Education
Council for providing me a unique opportunity to earn a PhD degree from University of
Birmingham by awarding me scholarships and bursaries.
Needless to say, I am intebted to many people for all their support and encouragement
during my PhD period. First of all, I have a lot to be thankful to my wife, Aslı Eldeş Usta, and my
parents for her endless patience and unconditional love. I owe a debt of gratitude to Doğuş and
Hillary Usta for their warm affection that I have received in every time I visit them in Manchester.
Besides, I would like to thank my friends and colleagues at Birmingham, specially Seyit Özkutlu
for making me familiar with Cyprus and the medieval history of the East Mediterranean, the coin-
man Ali Mıynat for leading me think over medieval Anatolia, Alessandro Paolini for his loyal
company and positive energy whenever I need, Ilaria Bernardi for her supportive motivation by
saying continuously ‘you almost there’, Francisco Lopez-Santos Kornberger for making me smile
always ‘ceddin deden, neslin baban’, Giulia Covarino for her kind friendship in Wesmere House. I
would also like to thank Alper Kumcu, Chiara Morbi, Cosmin Minea, Dimitris Lamprakis, Erdem
Ҫolak, Esen Hanaҫ, Gemma Mason, Georgia Michael, Maria D. Petropoulou, Onur Acaroğlu,
Özcan Gazioğlu, Rohit Talwar, and Selim Çakır for their lovely companion. I need to apologize in
advance to all others I forgot to mention, but you know you were with me.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 1
FROM ‘CATASTROPHE’ TO ‘CRISIS’ ....................................................................................................................................................... 1
THE NOMADIC TURKMENS IN MEDIEVAL ANATOLIA, DECLINE OR RECOVERY ? ....................................................................... 6
THE PARADOX OF THE ‘CRISIS’, FROM REBELS TO NOMADS ....................................................................................................... 28
THE LITTLE ICE AGE PARADIGM ......................................................................................................................................................... 38
THE UTILIZATION OF ARCHIVAL RECORDS FOR STUDY OF THE RURAL LANDSCAPE IN OTTOMAN ANATOLIA ............... 46
COURT RECORDS AND NOMADS ......................................................................................................................................................... 52
METHODOLOGY AND SOURCES ........................................................................................................................................................... 58
CHAPTER 1 AINTAB..............................................................................................................................65
LAND, GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE..................................................................................................................................................... 65
PRODUCTION AND POPULATION IN COUNTRYSIDE ....................................................................................................................... 70
NOMADS AND PASTORALISM .............................................................................................................................................................. 97
NOMADS AND AGRICULTURE ........................................................................................................................................................... 125
REGIONAL OVERVIEW ....................................................................................................................................................................... 130
CHAPTER 2 URFA ................................................................................................................................ 132
LAND, GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE.................................................................................................................................................. 132
PRODUCTION AND POPULATION..................................................................................................................................................... 140
NOMADS AND PASTORALISM ........................................................................................................................................................... 161
NOMADS AND AGRICULTURE ........................................................................................................................................................... 178
REGIONAL OVERVIEW ....................................................................................................................................................................... 185
CHAPTER 3 ANKARA .......................................................................................................................... 188
LAND, GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE.................................................................................................................................................. 188
PRODUCTION AND POPULATION..................................................................................................................................................... 195
NOMADS AND PASTORALISM ........................................................................................................................................................... 219
NOMADS AND AGRICULTURE ........................................................................................................................................................... 251
REGIONAL OVERVIEW ....................................................................................................................................................................... 262
CONCLUSION FROM ‘CRISIS’ TO RESILIENCE ........................................................................... 265
APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................................ 277
APPENDIX 1- MAP OF ANATOLIA .................................................................................................................................................... 278
APPENDIX 2- MAP OF SOUTHEASTERN ANATOLIA ..................................................................................................................... 279
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................... 280
UNPUBLISHED PRIMARY SOURCES................................................................................................................................................. 281
PUBLISHED PRIMARY SOURCES AND CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTS ........................................................................................ 282
SECONDARY SOURCES ....................................................................................................................................................................... 299
INTERNET SOURCES ........................................................................................................................................................................... 299

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LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

FIGURE 1 THE PROPORTIONS OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN AINTAB IN THE 1570S ............................................ 75
TABLE 1 THE FLUCTUATIONS IN THE TAX REVENUES OF THE SETTLEMENTS IN AINTAB IN THE 1600S AND 1610S
CONCERNING THE CANBOLADOĞLU REBELLION ........................................................................................................................... 82
TABLE 2 THE FLUCTUATIONS IN THE TAX REVENUES OF THE SETTLEMENTS IN AINTAB IN THE 1600S AND 1610S
CONCERNING THE LOCUST INVASION ............................................................................................................................................... 88
TABLE 3 THE LIVESTOCK PRICES IN THE ESTATE INVENTORY OF DERBEDEROĞLU ...................................................... 178
TABLE 4 THE ESTATE INVENTORY OF YUSUF…………………………………………………………………………………….239
TABLE 5 THE ESTATE INVENTORY OF MUSTAFA BIN ABDI .................................................................................................. 240
TABLE 6 THE ESTATE INVENTORY OF MUSTAFA BIN HIMMET ............................................................................................ 241
TABLE 7 THE OFFICIAL PRICES OF CEREAL PRODUCTS IN ANKARA IN 1619 .................................................................. 259
TABLE 8 THE YIELDS OF EDIBLE WHEAT AND BULGUR PER DÖNÜM AND THEIR PRICES IN ANKARA IN 1619 ...................
............................................................................................................................................................................................................... .260
TABLE 9 THE INVENTORY LIST OF MUSTAFA FROM HAYMANA RECORDED IN 1624 ................................................... 261

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Abbreviations

EI Encyclopaedia of Islam first edition
EI2 Encyclopaedia of Islam second edition
EI3 Encyclopaedia of Islam third edition
İA İslam Ansiklopedisi
JESHO Journal of Economic and Social History of the Orient
KK Kamil Kepeci Tasnifi
MAD Maliyeden Müdevver Defterleri
TDVİA Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslam Ansiklopedisi

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Note on Transliteration

In this dissertation, I have used modern Turkish ortography for personal names in the court entries
and for administrative terms used in an Ottoman context (e.g., İbrahim, kadı, sancak). However, I
have used English to refer to some certain Ottoman words, which have a known English form, like
janissary, pasha and agha. Besides, I have preferred to use the English translation of the technical
terms peculiar to the Ottoman court registers (e.g., petition as in arzuhal, takrir as in statement, and
öşür as in tithe). For the transliteration of Ottoman documents given in footnotes, I have used the
system of the İslam Ansiklopedisi.

Pronunciation of Modern Turkish Letters
c j, as in jar
ç ch, as in church or chimney
ş sh, as in ship or short
ğ unvocalized, lengthens preceding vowels
ı io, as in motion
ö u, as in furnish
ü u, as in amuse
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Glossary

Ağa an honorary title for military officers and Muslim notables
Akçe a small silver Ottoman coin
Avarız-ı divaniye
ve tekalif-i örfiyye extraordinary taxes and customary levies
Beşe honorary title for men who served in the army
Bennak peasants who had no land or small area of land less than
a half çift land
Çavuş sergeant
Çift a full-sized area of land whose size regionally changed
from 5.5 to 11 hectares on average
Dönüm an Ottoman unit of area that was equivalent to 918.4 m2
Eyalet province, a primary administrative division
Has largest revenue grant under the timar system, belonging
to the ruler and his household or the provincial governors
Havass-ı Hümayun imperial domains, or crown lands
Kadı judge
Mezraa a large field with no permanent settlement
Miri belonging to the state
Müteferrika a member of an elite guard unit of palace cavalry
Mücerred bachelor, unmarried and landless peasant
Nahiye an administrative subdivision that was subject to sancak
Narh price list on necessities, established by the kadı
Pare a monetary unit used in the Levant
Timar smallest revenue grant belonging to the military officers
Sancak an administrative subdivision that was subject to eyalet
Sipahi a member of the cavalry forces in the provinces who held
timar as revenue
Șahi a monetary unit used in the Levant
Vakıf pious foundation whose revenue supports a religious and
charitable purpose
Zaim a holder of a large timar

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