This study aims to explore fashion consumption of the Ottoman Muslims living in Bursa during the 16th and 17th centuries. Fashion consumption has been identified as an important indicator of the development of early modern western consumer culture but has not been studied in a detailed way for the Ottoman context. Most of the studies in general focus on the fashion consumption of elite or the palace in Istanbul. This study rather focuses to a relatively modest city Bursa, which is a hub in the midst of the trade networks and a famous textile production center. In this study, fashionable goods - novel goods and materials and innovative styles- of the everyday life is identified and the changes in the consumption of these goods in relation to different classes and income groups are examined in detail. Bursa probate inventories dating from mid-sixteenth and mid-seventeenth centuries were used in conjunction with other official sources and literary sources. Four probate inventory books (2 belonged to beledi / ruled class and two belonged to askeri / ruling class) are compared. Official sources such as narh records (price lists), decrees, and ihtisab codes (codes related with market operations and production) are utilized. In addition, literary sources like travelers' notes, poetry, and etiquette of the period are used. Three hundred and sixty four probate inventories were transcribed, objects were categorized according to their place of usage (clothing, accessories, home furnishing, kitchenware). Through statistical comparisons, goods, which were not present in the 16th century but appeared in 17th century, are considered as fashionable items. Next, their frequency of acquisitions according to different classes and income groups are identified. The symbolic meanings of these goods and materials are searched among the literary sources depending on the availability of the data since fashion is a was of communication of identities in the social arena. Findings demonstrate that fashion items were more popular in clothing and accessories rather than home furnishing and kitchenware categories. In general, chi-square comparisons show that novelties were consumed by both of the classes but the materials and qualities change according to class. There are some exceptions, which might indicate the formation of specific class tastes rather than emulation as the only type of diffusion mechanism. Possible reasons for diffusion of fashion through the society will be discussed.

This paper will focus on the social and economic history of Tulkarm-Bani S`ab nahiya, which occupied the western part of Nablus liwa in central Palestine, during the Ottoman rule 1516-1918. Tulkarm nahiya stretched west to east from the Mediterranean coast about 25 miles inland to foothills Gabal al-Nar, Nablus Mountains. Most of the nahiya land lay on the fertile costal plains of Palestine. The Nahiya contain of three districts; Wadi al-Sha`ir (Alexander River), Bani S`ab and al-Sha`rawiyya al-Gharbiyya. The history of this nahiya and later on qada' and its development during the Ottoman rule will be examined by searching many Ottoman primary surceases such as; defterleri daimi, defterleri yoqalmi, tabu records and Ottoman salnamih. These surceases were compiled with the Ottoman land survey registers in order to record population and taxes from local revenue. This paper originally developed from my interest in studying the peasantry (fellahin) in Ottoman Palestine. The nature of the peasants' political, social and economic role beyond that of producers has not been yet fully studied. I would like to get further than the numerical image of the peasants contained in the primary sources and official documents by evaluating and analyzing the data. These registers documents contain so much information on the population, production, and taxation of countryside Palestine. I have tried to devise a methodology for exploiting these primary sources efficiently and exhaustively, making possible calculations which would otherwise be possible in view of amount of labor involvement. This methodology still requires that the registers be read and deciphered; but the task is greatly facilitated by the existing work of scholars who have explained the structure and terminology of these primary sources.

How significant were religious affiliations to the daily experiences of Ottoman urbanites? Most historians agree that religion was the main social divider in Ottoman society, and that people's status, as well as the set of choices that guided them throughout their lifetimes were much influenced by whether they were Muslim or dhimmi. In this paper, I look at a set of documented natural disasters (plague epidemics, earthquakes, and famines) that took place in the Ottoman Empire in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and study people's behavioral patterns while responding to these calamities. Such an analysis is made through employing a combination of sources: Ottoman, British, and French archival documents, as well as more recent studies in sociology and psychology. I argue that since natural catastrophes occurred so often during this period - most people experienced such misfortunes at least once a decade - they became an inseparable part of people's lifetime experiences. Knowing more about people's responses to these disasters may broaden our understanding of the set of values and priorities that guided them in making choices for themselves and their families. Examining numerous cases of reactions to disasters, I found that people's responses did not always correspond to what one might expect according to their religious affiliation. Thus during plague epidemics, many Muslims fled their cities despite a popular belief that they didn't; and a great number of non-Muslims stayed put even though their religious leaders encouraged them to seek refuge elsewhere. It appears that various social and economic considerations rather than confessional attachment determined people's actions during times of crisis, and that in such cases communal authority weakened considerably. This finding is in line with a number of recent studies that have suggested that religious communities within Ottoman society, and especially non-Muslim ones, were not rigid and isolated bodies that had only minimal relations with the surrounding population. Instead, we need to consider the community and its guiding religious principles as one attribute among many that determined people's actions and behaviors. The various levels of mutual help and cooperation between members of different groups during crises indicate that business, social, and even familial bonds that breached religious boundaries affected people's choices considerably more than certain traditional stipulations. This paper, therefore, provides further evidence that Ottoman urban society should be understood as consisting of a web of interlacing and overlapping circles rather than as characterized by a Muslim-dhimmi dichotomy.

Izmir, the third biggest city of Turkey, holds an enriched culture shaped by consecutive immigrations of different ethnic, religious and cultural groups throughout the centuries. Up until the dissolution of the Ottoman State it was a multifaceted urban center of different religious, ethnic, and social communities, where the Muslim Turks were outnumbered by other communities. Izmir had also been a safe haven for the people migrating from the insecure parts of the Balkans of declining Ottoman Empire. In the foundation years of Turkish Republic, demographic picture of Izmir had substantially changed, other than two minor non-Muslim groups (Levantines and the Jews), the majority of the non-Muslims fled from Izmir, and it has, in a very short time, become a city of ethnic Turks. During this demographic shift two immigrant groups (Cretans and Thessalonicans) from the Balkans have emerged as prominent groups in shaping the identity of Turkish Izmir. Immigration from Crete began after the independence of Crete from the Ottoman Empire in 1898. Among the Muslim population in Izmir, Cretan Turks already existed as one of the large and important communities. The Exchange of Populations Agreement between Greece and Turkey in 1923 led to another wave of immigration, this time from Thessalonica to Izmir. After the deportation of the Greeks at the end of the Turkish Independence War, Izmir had been peopled by immigrants mainly from Thessalonica, and also from Crete (the last portion of Cretan Muslims), and from other Greek islands and the Balkans. Since then the Cretan and Thessalonican originated groups have been influential in social life of Izmir and its contemporary identity. This paper is based on a pioneering sociological study to find out the actual number of them, to map out their cultural traits and social views, and to pursue their contribution to the identity of Izmir. The results show certain distinguishing characteristics of the groups in which certain similarities and dissimilarities have been displayed. This study was executed and finished in 2008.