Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
ŞAHİN R. (Yürütücü)
TÜBİTAK Uluslararası İkili İşbirliği Projesi, 2547 - Arnavutluk Araştırma, Teknoloji ve Yenilik Ajansı (ARTI) ile İkili İşbirliği Programı, 2023 - 2025
Elbasan is an industrial city that lies in the right
coast of the Shkumbin river in today’s Central Albania. Known as İlbasan or
Elbasan (meaning, the castle which observes the province of Albania), the
region is known as a castle established by Fatih Sultan Mehmed to control the
activity of Iskender Bey and the roads that lie toward the northern part of the
country. In the context of the settlement politics of the Ottoman state, many
people from the neighbour areas were brought to Elbasan, which became a mere
city.
In the newly attached areas, the Ottomans adopted several administrative practices and tax policies from previous administrations. Thus, the sanjaks differed from each other in the context of administrative practices and the land law. Taking in consideration this aspect, the sanjak of Elbasan shows certain differences comparing to the other provinces. During the reading process of archival data, it is very important to read exactly taxing items and the names of settlements such as the townships and the villages, a very important elements in the understanding of the social, demographic and economic structure of the sanjak. Because of that, the success of the project lies through the cooperation of experts who can work on these types of documents, have knowledge of regional differences and the terminology of the registers as well as the complexity of siyakat style of writing.
The relating literature showed out the existence of
a little number of studies on Elbasan. The existing studies cover several issues
such as the pre-ottoman history of the city of Elbasan, the foundation period
of it, the inscription of the castle, the lawbook of the tanner’s guild, waqfs
of the 17th century and its demographic and administrative situation during the
19th century. But we did not identify any study of the administrative aspect
and government style of the Elbasan sanjak according to the cadastral record of
the 16th century. In the DACES project,
it is aimed to determine the urbanization and Islamization process of
the Elbasan Sanjak in the 16th century, the rural-urban settlement types and
demography, the effect of the diversity of occupations in the cities on the
tradesmen's organizations, the agricultural production diversity and capacity,
the tax types and rates that the Ottoman Empire received from the region, the
social-economic formations brought about by the economic structure of the
sanjak and the social reflections of the tax policy applied throughout the
sanjak.
Methodology:
In the preliminary research carried out for the
Elbasan sanjak were identified the cadastral registers dated 1530, 1570 and
1581 as well as the cadastral registers of the period of Sultan Murad III. In the
projected research, the main sources consist in the mentioned cadastral
registers as well as the other archival data. Therefore, a resource/material-oriented approach will be exhibited, and qualitative research methods will be used. The transcription of the archive documents and their
classification according to the subject will be made. From the information
obtained, data sets will be created on various subjects such as the demography
and economic structure of the sanjak. Thanks to these data sets, changes in
administrative units will be observed both within themselves and over time. Various
graphs will be created from the data sets and the changes in the region will be
evaluated.
Project management:
The DACES project covers a 24-month study. The
identification process of the documents, their withdrawal from the archives and
transcription will be materialized between 1-12 months through an intensive
research work in Presidency Ottoman Archive (BOA) in Turkey and the General
Directorate of State Archives in Tirana, Albania. Conferences will be held in
the 13th 19th 23rd months of the project, and the information obtained from
archive documents will be presented to the academic world by publishing
articles in journals scanned in international indexes.
Expected impact of the Project:
DACES project will have scientific, social and
cultural impact. The published articles will enrich the literature on the topic
and will serve as a source in the context of the processes that shaped the
Balkan area under the Ottoman rule. It
is foreseen that the obtained information will contribute to the data pool
created on the Balkans, in particular Albania. The findings of the project will
be shared with the academia as well as with the public in Turkey, Albania and Kosovo.
Thus, the widespread impact of the project outputs will be delivered to more
people in more countries, and people related to the subject will be encouraged to
do similar studies. In addition, researchers will transfer the knowledge gained
from these studies to students through postgraduate courses in the field of History
and will ensure the dissemination of the knowledge produced.