초록 열기/닫기 버튼
Urban mahalles of central Ottoman lands has been viewed as rather homogeneous, tightly-knit, and relatively unchanging. To have a fresh look at those apparently stable Ottoman mahalles, one may want to observe mahalles of a city for a particular time of distress in order to see what kind of problems they were faced with and in what ways they handled the problems. The early seventeenth century was exactly such a period in Istanbul, when myriads of immigrants flooded the city itself and its hinterlands in the aftermath of the Celali rebellions (1596-1609) in the Anatolian countryside. There were more non-Muslims than Muslims among the immigrants as indicated in the primary sources and secondary literature. While there was a visible increase in the number of Istanbul mahalles in the early 17th century probably due to the influx of immigrant population, the number of non-Muslim mahalles did not increase much. While non-Muslim mahalles must have accommodated non-Muslim newcomers, Muslim mahalles must have accommodated some as well. Religious homogeneity and exclusivity of mahalles may have been too excessively emphasized, as it is rather common to observe that some mahalles had mixed populations. Not only were Istanbul mahalles more mixed than expected, they were also quite open to newcomers as far as we can judge from the court cases (i.e. Şeriye Sicilleri) of the period. Mahalles did have reasons for accepting newcomers, as they were faced with increased tax burdens of avariz (irregular taxes) and cizye(poll tax for non-Muslims), which were often communally collected, and as labor force was needed for those jobs not filled by Istanbulites. Mahalles seem to have wanted rich and morally upright newcomers in and potential troublemakers out, although it must not have been easy to distinguish between the two. It is shown in the expulsion cases that those expelled were supposed to find it easy to settle in a new mahalle. Especially, a certain Fatma Hatun who was of foul reputation was found to have been moving from mahalle to mahalle in a case of government inspection. It is clear that mahalles had complete power in the making of decisions regarding whether to take someone in or not, and the immediately affected neighbors or the co-religionists in the mahalle seem to have made crucial decisions.
키워드열기/닫기 버튼
Istanbul, Seventeenth Century, mahalle (residence quarters), immigrants, expulsion
