Problems of land-owning and population in the area of Gazi Evrenos Bey's wakf
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Abstract
One of the bigest wakfs in Europe during the Ottoman times was that of
Gazi Evrenos Bey’s at the plain of Thessaloniki. Using mainly the existing in Thessaloniki Turkish archives the author examines the turning of the wakf’s
villages into chiftliks during the 18th-19th centuries. He comes to the conclusion
that, for reasons discussed in detail in the article, this development was more
extensive in that wakf’s area than in other parts of the Ottoman Empire.
Another problem investigated here is that of the depopulation of the area
in 17th-18th cent, and its “colonization” mostly with Bulgarian speaking
workers during the second half of the 19th century. Finally at the beginning
of the 20th century the Turks owning chiftliks started selling them either to
wealthy Greeks and Jews or to the cultivators themselves, which indicated the
rising of their standards of living.
Gazi Evrenos Bey’s at the plain of Thessaloniki. Using mainly the existing in Thessaloniki Turkish archives the author examines the turning of the wakf’s
villages into chiftliks during the 18th-19th centuries. He comes to the conclusion
that, for reasons discussed in detail in the article, this development was more
extensive in that wakf’s area than in other parts of the Ottoman Empire.
Another problem investigated here is that of the depopulation of the area
in 17th-18th cent, and its “colonization” mostly with Bulgarian speaking
workers during the second half of the 19th century. Finally at the beginning
of the 20th century the Turks owning chiftliks started selling them either to
wealthy Greeks and Jews or to the cultivators themselves, which indicated the
rising of their standards of living.
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