19. YÜZYILIN İLK YARISINDA MALATYA’DA SOSYAL ve İKTİSADİ HAYAT (IV NUMARALI MARAŞ AHKÂM DEFTERİ’NE GÖRE)
SOCIAL and ECONOMIC LIFE IN MALATYA IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY (ACCORDING TO THE IV TH AHKÂM REGISTER)

Summary/Abstract: One of the most significant archival sources for analyzing the political, economic, and social structure of the Ottoman provinces is the ahkâm registers. Containing the copies of decrees sent from the Imperial Council to provincial kadis and governors, these registers reflect in detail the mechanisms of state control and regulation over the periphery. Through the ahkâm registers, it is possible to directly trace many issues that shaped daily life in the provinces, such as irregularities in tax collection, interventions in malikâne and timar revenues, disputes over property and inheritance, debt cases, banditry, and public security problems. This article examines the social and economic structure of the Malatya district in the first half of the 19th century based on the records of the Fourth Maraş Ahkâm Register (1813–1834). The decrees in this register reveal the dissolution of the classical timar system and the expansion of the malikâne system, along with the social tensions generated by these transformations at the local level. On the one hand, these records illustrate the central authority’s efforts to establish legal order and justice in the provinces; on the other hand, they expose the growing influence of local notables (ayan and eşraf) in regional economic and social life. The analysis demonstrates that agricultural and pastoral production, along with the tax obligations tied to them, stood at the core of social order in the Malatya region. However, failure to fulfill tax liabilities, interventions in malikâne revenues, and property disputes exacerbated social unrest. In addition, incidents of banditry and security problems significantly undermined public order in the countryside.

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