CITIES, TOWNS, AND
VILLAGES: MER
VILLAGES: MERCHANTS,CHANTS,
CRAFTSMEN,
CRAFTSMEN,
AND PEASANTS
AND PEASANTS
The Ottoman concept of society divided the productive classes into merchants, craftsmen, and peasant farmers. Until the arrival of the modern industrial era, the major urban centers of the Ottoman Empire were much larger, and far more prosperous, than any urban center in Europe. The rich cultural and historical heritage of these cities was evident in their palaces, mosques, churches, synagogues, mausoleums, tombs, bathhouses, bazaars, schools, and bridges.
Aside from these cities of antiquity, new towns emerged during the long Ottoman rule, many along the main trade and military routes.1 These urban centers served the Ottoman government as
military and administrative centers and connected small towns and villages to the larger cities of the empire.2 They were srcinally
small, “stretching at most for two or three miles from one end to the other,” but “within this compact space” was “a densely packed net- work of roads, many different kinds of houses, businesses, religious institutions, coffee houses, hammams [bathhouses],waqfcomplexes, public fountains and a whole range of other kinds of spaces.”3
MAHALLES MAHALLES
Each Ottoman urban center was divided into mahalles, or city quarters. The mahalle constituted a social, cultural, and economic
72 Daily Life in the Ooman Empire
zone, which delineated the cultural life of its residents from other city quarters and neighborhoods.4 Ottoman towns and cities con-
tained diverse ethnic and religious communities, with each com- munity living in its own mahalle. Muslims, Christians, and Jews inhabited their own neighborhoods. They “spent most of their lives in one neighborhood, rarely venturing beyond their local sphere of activity because all their daily needs could be met in their immediate social surroundings.”5 In most mahalles, “there was a
small market for daily goods, perhaps a small mosque, a butcher shop, fruit vendors, and other institutions providing social ser- vices.”6 The residents of a mahalle “saw one another regularly,
and this fostered a distinctive sense of neighborhood identity, which often took on the characteristics of an extended family.”7
Neighbors in such tightly knit neighborhoods recognized one an- other and noticed the presence of strangers immediately. Such proximity and familiarity did not always breed good intentions and result in neighborly acts; it also encouraged gossip and specu- lation.
Mahalles “tended to segregate the urban population” in accor- dance with “religion and profession.”8 Not surprisingly, many
Christianmahalleswere named after churches, which were located there, while many Muslim quarters traced their names to the main mosque within their boundary. Othermahalles took their names from the profession or trade practiced by the majority of residents. Regardless, central to everymahalle was the house of worship that served as the religious and cultural heart of the neighborhood. In a Muslimmahalle, the small neighborhood mosque, in a Christian quarter, the church, and in a Jewish community, the synagogue, were the focal points of the community. Members of different re- ligious communities lived in their ownmahalles under the leader- ship of their religious and administrative heads. A Muslimmahalle was represented by an imam, who served as the religious head of his community, and by thekethüda, who acted as the representa- tive of the government. Similarly, a Christian or a Jewish mahalle was led by a priest or a rabbi. The mahalle provided the Ottoman authorities with the means to collect taxes in the urban centers of the empire. At times, the kethüda and/or the elder of each mahalle functioned as the tax collector for the state.9
Though smaller in size and population, Ottoman towns fol- lowed the same urban plan as the large cities. Each town had a congregational mosque, neighborhood mosques, inns and cara-
Cities, Towns, and Villages 73 vanserais, bathhouses, schools, lodges of Sufi orders, a bazaar, and shops. The town center was usually reserved for business pur- poses, administration, and local defense. The majority of residents in the town center were Muslims, who wielded civil and religious authority. They were joined by Greek, Armenian, Jewish, and for- eign merchants, who controlled most long-distance commerce. Lying “in a ring around the center were the residential quarters (mahalles ), where the general urban population lived in low dwell- ings that faced the meandering and narrow streets, and that were frequently separated from each other by large gardens,” mak- ing “the towns appear larger than their actual populations would warrant.”10
Muslim neighborhoods were often “found in the oldest and most prominent sections of the town and close to the center, while those of the Christians,” called “varosh by the Muslim authorities and inhabitants, were commonly located farther from the cen- ter.”11 The homes of the town’s Christian residents “tended to be
of lower quality than those of Muslims, having few, if any, win- dows and structurally oriented toward inner courtyards rather than toward the streets.” 12 These residential areas were sur-
rounded by a broad circle of land that served as the town’s cem- etery. In thevarosh of most towns in the Balkans, the population was highly heterogeneous. In the urban centers of 17th-century Bulgaria, there were Bulgarian, Greek, Armenian, and Albanian communities, as well as “Catholic Croatian merchants” from “the commercial city of Dubrovnik” on the Adriatic coast.13 The major-
ity of the Muslim and Christian population worked as craftsmen and traders.
Considerable regional differences appeared among Ottoman ar- chitectural designs, reflecting the region’s climate, geographical and environmental setting, available building material, and dis- tinct architectural traditions.14 The mansions of the rich and pow- erful stood in close proximity to the shacks of the poor. Among the wealthy classes, the general plan of a house was an entrance through a blank wall, whose bland appearance was relieved by a beautifully carved wooden door. The house consisted of two courts. The first was the outer court, which served as a recep- tion area for the male visitors and guests. The second court or the inner court was reserved for the women of the family and was in every Muslim household a private place, closed to all outsiders and strangers. The large hall “reserved for the men of the family
74 Daily Life in the Ooman Empire
to socialize with their guests” was called the selamlik, and the pri- vate section of the house that provided a separate and designated space for female socialization was theharemlik, or harem.15
In the Balkans, the homes of high government officials were adorned “with beautiful vineyards, gardens, and parks with their pavilions and galleries.”16 They were often two- or three-story high
structures made of stone and crowned with red tiled roofs.17 Each
house also had “a source of pure flowing water, a pool and a foun- tain with water spurting from jets.”18 In most Ottoman towns, the
houses of the lower classes did not differ much from those in vil- lages, except that there was sometimes an upper story.
Despite their diverse population, the urban centers of the Ottoman Empire were known for “the absence of capital crimes” and some of “the best conducted people.”19 Janissaries’ patrols “ensured that
crime was kept to a minimum and the streets were almost deserted after dark, the silence was broken only by the cries of the night watchmen.”20 Those “who had to go out of for any reason were
obliged by law to carry a flare.”21 A European observer who vis-
ited Istanbul in 1836 noted that the Ottoman capital, “with a popu- lation of six hundred thousand souls,” had a police force of “one hundred fifty men,” which was mostly for show rather than use.22
A Turkish apartment in the Fanar (Phanar). William H. Bartlett. From Julie Pardoe,The Beauties of the Bosphorus(London: 1839). (Library of Congress)
Cities, Towns, and Villages 75 From dusk the streets were “silent,” save when one was “awakened by the footfalls of some individual” who passed, “accompanied by his servant bearing a lantern, on an errand of business or plea- sure.”23 Without “these lanterns, no one could stir” as the streets of
the Istanbul and other large urban centers of the empire were not lighted and properly paved, making a walk in the dark danger- ous.24 If occasionally “some loud voice of dispute or some ringing
of laughter” scared “the silence of the night,” it was “sure to be the voice or the laughter of a European,” for the “Turk” was “never loud, even in his mirth, a quiet internal chuckle” was “his greatest demonstration of enjoyment.”25
OTTOMAN CONQUEST AND URBANIZATION OTTOMAN CONQUEST AND URBANIZATION
In Istanbul and other major urban centers of the empire, Otto- man conquest introduced a high degree of Islamization to every- day life.26 Ottoman sultans introduced their faith and decorated
the newly conquered cities with palaces, mosques, soup kitchens, schools, bathhouses, and fountains. These buildings and their ma- jestic designs were replicated in provincial capitals around the
empire.
Ottoman sultans were great builders, and Ottoman architects left a wide array of monuments, which serve as a testimony to their support for urbanization and economic prosperity. Indeed, archi- tecture was “the most visible manifestation of Ottoman genius,” not only in Anatolia, where the majority of the Turkish-speaking population resided but also throughout the Balkans and the Arab lands.27
The greatest of all Ottoman architects was Sinan (1489/1490–1578). As the chief architect of Süleyman the Magnificent, Selim II, and Murad III, Sinan designed his first architectural masterpiece in 1543, following the death of Prince Mehmed, one of the Süley- man’s sons. The complex, built between 1543 and 1548, was named S¸ehzade (Prince). Sinan used Aya Sofya, which was built with a central dome supported by two semi-domes, as his model. His plan for the S¸ehzade complex was centered on a central dome supported by four semi-domes. Sinan’s next giant project was the design and
construction of the Süleymaniye Mosque. The construction of the mosque began in 1550 and ended in 1557. This magnificent build- ing, set on a hill overlooking the Istanbul harbor, still dominates the city’s skyline.28 The “crowning glory of Ottoman architecture”
76 Daily Life in the Ooman Empire
Mosque in Edirne. This mosque was built between 1568 and 1574.29
The “four soaring, pencil-thin minarets of the Selimiye mosque” surrounds “its lofty central dome, 105 ft wide,” and the “honey- colored sandstone” contrasts “with the black lead of the roof and the turrets,” which surmounts “the eight buttresses supporting the dome.”30
The Ottomans also built public fountains for ablutions, which every Muslim was required to perform before praying at a mosque, and for keeping the town supplied with water. These fountains were often located in front of a mosque, or at least in close prox- imity, so that Muslims could fulfill their obligation of maintaining their cleanliness before they entered a mosque to pray.31 Mosques
and fountains were not, however, the only structures sponsored and built by Ottoman sultans. After the Ottomans conquered an urban center, the sultan ordered the damaged city walls repaired and instructed the new garrison commander to rebuild the fortress. The standard policy was “to return the city to its inhabitants and to restore it just as it had been before.”32 Damaged workshops, bath-
houses, caravanserais, and tanneries were repaired. The commer-
Court of the Mosque of Eyoub (Eyub). William H. Bartlett. From Julie Pardoe,The Beauties of the Bosphorus(London: 1839). (Library of Congress)
Cities, Towns, and Villages 77 cially oriented people of the empire, particularly the Jews, Greeks, and Armenians, were encouraged to populate the newly con- quered towns and cities.
When Mehmed II captured Constantinople, the city lay in ruin and the population had been decimated by naval blockade and warfare. The sultan did not, however, wish to rule over a city of ruins. According to the chronicler As¸ikpas¸azade, Mehmed II ap- pointed a new city commandant and sent his agents to various pro- vinces, declaring that “whoever wishes, let him come, and let him become owners of houses, vineyards and gardens in Istanbul,”
and to whomever came, the Ottoman government gave what it had promised, but even this act of generosity was not sufficient to repopulate the city.33 Thus, the sultan
gave orders to dispatch families, both rich and poor, from every province. The Sultan’s servants were sent with orders to Kadis and commandants of every province, and in accordance with their orders conscribed and brought very many families. Houses were also given to these new arrivals, and this time the city began to be repeopled . . . They began to build mosques. Some of them built
Fountain and market at Tophannè (Tophane). William H. Bartlett. From Julie Pardoe,The Beauties of the Bosphorus(London: 1839). (Library of Con-
78 Daily Life in the Ooman Empire
dervish convents, some of them private houses, and the city re- turned to its previous state. . . . The sultan built eight medreses with a great cathedral mosque in their midst, and facing the mosque a fine hospice and a hospital, and at the side of the eight medreses, he built eight more small medreses, to house the students.34
The Ottoman state frequently moved Turcoman tribal groups from Anatolia and settled them in the newly captured towns and villages of the Balkans. Jews, Greeks, and Armenians also followed Ottoman armies and opened businesses in the newly conquered towns. The new settlers injected new blood into the urban econo- mies, increased the population, and diversified the ethnic, linguis- tic, and religious composition of the region. In these new Ottoman administrative centers, government officials, members of the reli- gious classes, commanders of the army, and soldiers of the local garrison performed the daily work of running a vast empire. These officials included government agents who supervised tax collec- tion; a kadi, or a judge in a religious court; the sipahis and their warden; the janissaries and their commander; the wardens of the fortress; the market inspector; the toll collector; the poll-tax offi- cial; the customs inspector; the chief engineer; the chief architect; the mayor; as well as the local notables and dignitaries. Always with the new Muslim populations came the ulema of the Hanafi School of Islamic law, who acted as the chief muftis, or the officially appointed interpreters of the Islamic law. The influx of Ottoman officials, administrators, and army officers, as well as new set- tlers from Anatolia, created a new Muslim majority in many urban centers of the Balkans. By 1530, Muslims constituted 90 percent of the population of Larissa in Thessaly (Greece), 61 percent in Serres (northern Greece), 75 percent in Monastir and Skopje (Macedonia), and 66 percent in Sofia (Bulgaria).35
VAKIFS VAKIFS
In addition to the sultan, Ottoman officials, dignitaries, and local notables built and endowed new mosques, schools, bathhouses, bridges, fountains, anddervis¸convents that came to dominate the
urban landscape. The speed by which these new buildings were completed, suggested not only plentiful supply of skilled labor and highly developed architectural traditions, but the sufficient and ready means necessary to fund such projects through to com- pletion more reliably and much more quickly than European states could manage at this time.
Cities, Towns, and Villages 79 The true vehicle of Ottoman urban renewal was the pious foun- dation, or thevakif. By foregoing the revenues from rents on shops and land and instead directing them into a pious foundation, the founder of avakif relinquished his ownership of the property and its resulting income, but in return secured blessings in his own afterlife and in the earthly lives of his children and heirs. Ottoman sultans and their government officials built mosques, schools, hospitals, water installations, roads, and bridges, as well as “in- stitutions, which provided revenue for their upkeep, such as an inn, market, caravanserai, bathhouse, mill, dye house, slaugh- ter house or soup kitchen” supported by vakifs.36 The charitable
institutions were “usually grouped around a mosque, while the commercial establishments stood nearby or in some suitably ac- tive place.”37 Regardless of their physical location, they played an
important role in the civic life of the city by providing essential public services as well as offering goods and services for sale. Vakifs also financed Sufi convents, as well as water wells and foun- tains that kept the city alive and provided water for ablution. 38
They also fostered trade by funding the construction and mainte- nance of bridges and ferries.
BAZAARS AND BEDESTANS BAZAARS AND BEDESTANS
Outside the imperial palace, urban life focused on the market- place. Every “Ottoman city had a market district, known in Ar- abic assuq and in Turkish asçars¸i where both the manufacture and sale of goods were centralized.”39 This was an important public
space in any Ottoman city, and it was replicated across the em- pire. Markets served as the center for the people’s social and economic life. The majority of large urban markets also “had an inner market, known asbedestan, which could be closed off at night or in times of trouble.”40 To attract merchants and craftsmen to
their domain, Ottoman sultans built covered markets with bedes- tans in the cities they conquered. These markets, as well as inns or caravanserais, “served as lodgings for merchants” who “stored their valuable goods in special vaults reserved for them” at “these establishments.”41 At times,bedestans were used for storing “grains
and other agricultural goods collected as product-tax by the representatives of the central administration.” 42 Bedestans also
“included shops where local and long-distance merchants ex- changed their goods.”43 The large covered markets were usually
80 Daily Life in the Ooman Empire
surrounded by wide streets, gardens, and running springs on all sides.44
The covered bazaar of Istanbul (kapaliçars¸isi ), located in the cen- ter of the old city, was a “city within a city, containing arcaded streets, numerous lanes and alleys, squares and fountains, all en- closed within high protecting walls, and covered by a vaulted roof studded with hundreds of cupolas, through which penetrated a subdued light.”45 One 19th-century European visitor explained that
the covered bazaar was “composed of a cluster of streets, of such extent and number as to resemble a small covered town, the roof being supported by arches of solid masonry,” with “a narrow gal- lery, slightly fenced by a wooden rail,” occasionally connecting “these arches.”46
Thekapaliçars¸isi was designed and developed by Mehmed II, the conqueror of Constantinople, who “built more than 800 shops in the central location that was to become the covered bazaar, mainly shops of cloth merchants and tailors.” 47 By the beginning of the
18th century, the bazaar contained three thousand shops, and by the end of the 19th century, four thousand.48 Aside from shops, the
covered bazaar had its own mosque, fountains, public bathhouse,
Great Avenue in thetchartchi (covered bazaar). William H. Bartlett. From