Ottoman Censuses

OTTOMAN CENSUS BOOKS IN ISTAVRI VILLAGE

Population services carried out in Turkey have a long historical past from the Ottoman period to the present day. Since the establishment of the Ottoman Empire, censuses have been made periodically in order to collect soldiers and collect taxes and various records have been kept. Population services in the modern sense in the Ottoman Empire started with the establishment of Ceride-i Population Nezareti (Registered Population Ministry) within the Ministry of Internal Affairs after the 1831 census and the Ministry of Books to carry out these works in the Sanjaks. The first census of the Ottoman Empire was made in H.1247/M.1831 by visiting door to door, village by village. In this census, only Muslim men were included. He was described by his social position, father, brother, son, height, beard and age. The most significant factor in determining the male population at that time was the responsibility of the head of the family, the taxpayer, the person assigned to war, and the obligation of marriage.

Physical characteristics (height, hair, beard, eyes, eyebrows, age..) are given in the definition of people. Beard Qualification: It is given as black beard, brown beard, gray beard, corner/kouset beard, inherited beard, fresh beard, yellow beard. Mustache Quality: Black mustache, sweat mustache, brown mustache, yellow mustache, gray mustache. In the old documents, the following expressions were used when making definitions of persons. Alil: Sick, Yekçeshm: One-eyed, Hafidi: His grandson, Ter mustache: Mustache that hasn't grown yet, Muzellef beard: New hairs growing on his face, Shabb-i commanded: A young man whose mustache and beard have not yet grown, Creation: Monthly Muhtedi: He converted to Islam and became a Muslim dead. Unemployed: Stepson. Monla-Molla (Arabic Mevlana): The name given to prestigious scholars in the past, a famous kadi, master, teacher, madrasa student.

After the first general population census in 1831, regional or general censuses were made on different dates such as 1835, 1844, 1852, 1856, 1866, 1881/82 and 1905 to keep the records up-to-date.

The population registration system, shaped according to emerging needs, has passed through various stages. In this study, a new approach has been brought to the examination of population services by dividing them into three different periods as "Classical Records Period", "Special Purpose Population Registration Period" and "General Purpose Population Registration Period".

The change in the registration system showed parallelism with the development of population organization. Ceride-i Population Ministry, which initially carried out population services, was transformed into the General Population Directorate in 1884. This unit became the Registry of Population Public Administration Umumiyyesi in 1889, and it was revised again in 1914 as the Population Directorate General. The records created under the General Population Law in 1905 and the Re-registered Population Law of 1914 formed the basis of population services in the Republican period.

Of the 1835 census results, I could only find those of Turks and Muslims. In the censuses made on these dates, only men were counted and women and children were not counted. The main point was that men were sent to the military. All households were counted in detail in subsequent censuses. According to the results of the 1835 census, there were 184 men and 8 guests in 30 households. This shows that approximately 400 Turks and Muslims live in our village. The traces of the following people who were mentioned in that census could not be found today. Some of these names are Durmuş, Memiş, Dursun, Halil, Arif, Nasuh, Karamustafa, Ali, Feyzi and Raşid. In this case, I want to emphasize that the term Turk refers to all Muslim minorities who had citizenship in the Ottoman Empire.

Although I do not have the registration details for 1856, according to the summary study I could find, there were 1480 people living in four neighborhoods (Center, Aşağı village, Monamatlı, Mehelle) and 296 households in İstavri at that time. When we make a distinction based on religion, we can say that 300-400 of them were Muslims, 280-380 people were secret Christians and 800 people were Christians.

According to population records dated 1905, there were 1,083 people living in four neighborhoods and 206 households in İstavri. These are 170 Muslims in 28 households, 199 secret Christians in 43 households, and 714 Christians in 135 households. You can find the 1905 registration details on the back pages. (Annex-24)

In the Ottoman period, our animal assets were counted, perhaps for the purpose of taxation, but constantly. We understand from Kemal Saylan's writings that in the 1876 census, there were 10 horses, 25 donkeys, 24 oxen, 25 cows, 975 goats and 635 sheep in Uğurtaşı.