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Mapping early 16th century Ottoman cities and provincial organization: The application of Geographical Information System to the Ottoman studies
Abstract
Digital technologies that are rapidly penetrating the field of humanities, today offer the ability to make multi-layered and complex analyzes. Historiography within the scope of the digital turn has also been affected by this process, and new research methodologies provide the opportunity to ask new perspectives and research questions in historical research. The centuries-old domination of the Ottoman empire and the bureaucratic record-keeping tradition provide huge archive resources. These archives cover the history of nearly 40 countries, including Anatolia, much of the Arab world, the Balkans and Eastern Europe, Crimea, the Caucasus, and Western Iran. Archival resources of this wide geography offer unique data for urban history studies. This article aims to contribute both thematically and methodologically to Ottoman urban history from the perspective of digital humanities. Thematically primary purpose; the study reveals an inventory of 700 Ottoman cities in the first half of the 16th century, organized as provinces (vilayet), sanjaks (sancak), and cities (kaza), from archival sources. It also discusses the reasons for the changes and transformations in the administrative and provincial organization of these cities. Using legal documents such as Kanunname and kadıasker records, and tax system resources such as tahrir registers, it reveals how these various types of sources portray different imperial geography. The methodological contribution of this study is the digital spatialization and visualization of archival data with the Geographic Information System (GIS) using ArcGIS software. Ottoman cities are placed in their current coordinates for the first time at the entire imperial level through GIS. In this respect, as a case study on the application of GIS in Ottoman studies, it provides an opportunity to discuss potentials and challenges by contributing within the scope of digital humanities, digital urban history, and also Ottoman gazetteer studies.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Ottoman Empire
Sub Area
13th-18th Centuries