XVI. YÜZYILDA KÜTAHYA SANCAĞI’NDA AHİLER VE AHİ ZAVİYELERİ

Abstract

Kütahya is one of the important cities where the Akhis have been active since the Anatolian Selçuk and Germiyanoğulları Principality period. Examining the activities of the Ahi, who build lodges from cities to villages an deven hamlets since the foundation of the Ottoman Empire, in the mentioned region is very important for Ottoman urban history. Although they have come to the fore with their commercial activities lately, the share of the Akhis in the development of the region, who penetrated to the remotest corners of Anatolia and built Dervish lodges, cannot be denied. While the Akhi were busy with the moral religious upbringing of the tradesmen in the dervish lodges theyestablished, on the other hand, they provided services such as hosting the passengers coming to their dervish lodges offering food, sheltering the members of the dervish lodges and helping the poor. In this context, the existence of the dervish lodges they established in many parts of Anatolia reveals how important the organization is for our cultural history. Starting from this point, the effects of the dervish lodges, foundations, farms, mosque and settlements called Akhis belonging to the Ahi in the Kütahya sanjak on social and economic life constitute the subject of our study.

Keywords

• kütahya
• ahi
• dervish lodges
• foundation
• farm