Page 273 - Journal of Asian History_Neat

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Journal nj Ihr American Oriental Society, <)0.J (lf)7<))
504
ak{c.ul This might be compared to the lief of the .such survey made in 1553 has already been men-
riistricl ollicer of Gaza in 1549, the highest paid tioned. At least three comprehensive surveys of
district ollicer in Palestine at the time, which Lafosa are noted in the mUhimme series as having
amounted to some 500,000 akqc.xn A district been carried out by 1575,1,7 and it seems likely
ollicer could hold in addition to this a separate that the records thus obtained were at least kept
fief, a limar or ze'amet. In the aforesaid year 1553 current thereafter.173
the district ollicer of Lntisft shared with a certain It would be premature to assess the degree of
Milsil b. ’Abdullah the ze'amet deriving its in- bureaucratic control over Label's lands and taxes x
come, 30,000 ak$e annually, from the revenues of held by Istanbul in the seventeenth century, but \
Tarut Island.177 The administrative fief of the as late as 1043 there are numerous references in.-
governor general of LahsS was a good deal more the muhimme series to assignments of tax income-j 1
lucrative. In 1566 ’All Bey, the district officer of from specified gardens in Labs& and as
Hamah in Syria was appointed to be the new mukdta’dt:7* to individuals or to the repair of i
governor general of Lafi-sfl with an administrative mosques in the region.140 In 1643 also the defterdar
fief of S00,000 ak^e.xu The man ’AJi Bey replaced of Lahsft was reported to have died; one of the.
in Lahs5 was appointed district officer of Jerusa- ’erbdb-i kalcm; was appointed to his place at the :
lem, a post carrying with it an administrative fief same salary, eighty akqe a day.MlDetailed records j
!
of only *100,000 oA-fe.m were being kept. Appointments were being made; I
but further documentation is needed to show ]
The bureaucracy
whether this was not simply the passive ratifica-J
Lafisa may have been a relatively unimportant tion of provincial initiative. 3
province in the Ottoman Empire, but one could Land tenure and taxes '■j
not judge it so by the attention shown it in the
The economy of Lahsa was for the most part
bureaucracy. Throughout the sixteenth century
based on agriculture, although trade and com­
at any rate an attempt was valiantly made in the
merce made their contribution.142 To administer^
appropriate bureaucratic divisions of Istanbul to .;
keep a current accounting of every man and akqe 1,7 M 43:565, n.d. (9SS/15SO-81). The question raised
in the province for which the government was in this document is that of proper nerfr, or official market *;
responsible. The paperwork involved in the retail price act by the government on certain staple*, j
finances of the province was carried out by the The ^ wa3 often manipulated so as to produce a sale* j
tax for the government, as is the case in the complaint*'
usual Ottoman provincial bureaucratic apparatus,
here stated in the document. It was apparently recorded \
headed by the defterdar.lu Current military en­ as such in the introductory section of the land registry,4
rollment records were kept by military staff. as was the custom for taxes peculiar to the region sur-j
The most important record for which the veyed. See Heyd, p. S3. The reference to the surveys may
defterdar was responsible was the defter-i^dkdnl, be found in the narralio. I
*u In 1585, for example, orders were sent to La^si to'
the survey of the province. On the basis of this
forward to Istanbul all financial records for inspection
detailed survey all taxes were assessed. The first
(M 60:638, 5 CA 904/23 May 15S6). .jj
**• Another word for tax farm. See Gibb and BowenJ
1,1 Maliye'den 17642: p. 718; i.e., half (or a quarter) vol. I, part I, pp. 132 fT. See also below, “land tenur<5
of the supposed minimum for the district officer's and taxes.” . j
(Heyd, Ottoman Document*, p. 104, footnote 5, Gibb and **• M 89:240-43, all written on eve of Sa’bin 1063/
Bowen, vol. I, part I, p. 144.) 15 October 1653. ^
1,1 Heyd, Ottoman Document*, pp. 41-42. ,M M 89:239, eve $a*b&n 1053/15 October 1653. j
,M Maliye’den 17642: p. 719. 141 In addition to the numerous references to the ims
1,4 M 5:996. In 1580 the “customary’’ salary of the portance of trade to the mlrl one document mentions aa
governor general of Labs* was said to have been 900,000 indigo factory in tfatlf; M 3:1633 , 20 Safer 963/10 No4
° M 5-997^ vember 1560. The pearling industry was probably thj
m J. * * most important business of the area. Ottoman offioeij
« « and Bowen, vol. I, part I, pp. 127 ff. commonly invested in pearls while serving in Lahai. Aa
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