The Professions of Non-Muslim in Zile and Bozok Townships (According to The 1844-1845 Temettuat Registers)

Abstract

Throughout the course of history, people have acquired certain works to maintain their lives. These works, many of which are based on body strength and manual labour, have changed over time, and created the concept that we call the profession today. A person's continuous work which based on knowledge and skills, within the framework of certain rules, is called profession. The professions reflected in the official records left by the states living in the historical process have been ideal data sources for today's historians and economists in terms of revealing the economic and social potential of a city or region. One of the pillars of the restructuring of the Ottoman Empire, which began with the Tanzimat Period (1839-1876), was providing social and economic equality within the society. In this context, the data obtained from the censuses made in 1844-1845 were recorded under name of “Temettuat Registers “. With the help of these records, detailed information can be obtained about the social and economic status of the areas that subject to the censuses in 19th century. In this study, two township centre, Zile and Bozok which both shows similarities in their geographical location and historical development, has been chosen as the subject area. The main source of the study is Zile and Bozok Temettuat Registers of 1844-1845. From these records, the occupations of the non-Muslim inhabitants who were living in the mentioned places and their incomes have been evaluated. In this context, in 1844-45, there were a total of twenty neighbourhoods in Zile, eight of them were inhabited by Muslim and non-Muslims together, and one of them was inhabited only by non-Muslim residents. However, in Bozok there were nine neighbourhood and in four of them Muslim and non-Muslims were living together. After detailed research in these neighbourhoods, 122 different occupations were identified in the centre of Zile and 45 of these occupations were handled in detail. Likewise, 166 different occupations were identified in Bozok township centre and 99 occupations of non-Muslim population were studied in detail. Additionally, similar and different aspects of the occupations identified in the two centres and discussed. This study aims in general aspect to reveal the economic contribution of non-Muslim inhabitants in the Anatolian territories of the Ottoman Empire and in particular targets the reveal Zile and Bozok townships’ economic contributions to the area and to the country.

Keywords

• zile
• bozok
• temettuat registers
• non-muslim
• jobs