Description
Book SynopsisDid the ‘seventeenth-century crisis’ visit the Ottoman Empire? How can we situate the explosion of rural violence and the rebellions of the turn of the seventeenth century in the Anatolian countryside? The Collapse of Rural Order in Ottoman Anatolia provides the reader with a fresh and innovative perspective on the long scholarly debate over the question of ‘decline’ in early modern Ottoman history. It offers a new agenda, new type of source material, and a new methodology for the study of demographic crisis. Through a systematic examination of little-known detailed avârız registers, Oktay Özel demonstrates in detail the mass desertion of rural settlements, the destruction of agricultural economy, and the resulting collapse of rural order in Ottoman Anatolia at the turn of the seventeenth century.
Table of ContentsList of Figures and Tables Acknowledgments Notes on Spelling 1 Introduction The Subject The Sources (mufassal (= Detailed) Avârız Registers) On the “Decline” Literature 2 Geography and Politics Amasya: Making of an Ottoman Province Rural Society: Limitations and Relational Matrix 3 Land, Society and Empire (through 1576) Peasants and Nomads Notables (mâlikâne holders) Timariots 4 The Collapse of Rural Order: A Comparison (1576–1643) Settlement Patterns Population Society 5 What Happened? An Assessment The Context Reviewed Nature and Climate at Work The Celâlis The Consequences 1643 Recontextualised 6 Conclusion Appendices Bibliography Index
