Financial Development of the Waqfs in Konya and the Agricultural Economy in the Central Anatolia (Late Sixteenth-Early Seventeenth Centuries)

ORBAY K.

JOURNAL OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE ORIENT, vol.55, pp.74-116, 2012 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 55
  • Publication Date: 2012
  • Doi Number: 10.1163/156852012x628509
  • Journal Name: JOURNAL OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE ORIENT
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.74-116
  • Keywords: Ottoman waqfs, waqf account books, agricultural crisis, agricultural economy, central Anatolia, OTTOMAN-EMPIRE, PRICE REVOLUTION, PRECIPITATION, TURKEY, 17TH-CENTURY, VARIABILITY, CONNECTION, CRISIS
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

This study examines the financial history of three waqfs (those of Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi, Sadreddin-i Konevi, and Selim II) in Konya through their account records covering the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. These waqfs (charitable foundations) had large agricultural holdings, and their financial developments consequently reflect the local agricultural conditions in central Anatolia. This analysis of the waqf account books deals with the short-term financial difficulties resulting from harvest failures and increasing grain prices. The widespread Celali rebellions seem to have caused agricultural crisis and the financial decline of waqfs in the early seventeenth century.