Organisation and financing of the Ottoman Currier service in the 17th-18th centuries Cover Image
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Организация и финансиране на османската куриерска служба през XVII и XVIII век
Organisation and financing of the Ottoman Currier service in the 17th-18th centuries

Author(s): Alexandra Antonova
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, History, Economy, National Economy, Public Administration, Modern Age, Special Historiographies:, Economic policy, Developing nations, 17th Century, 18th Century, The Ottoman Empire, Public Finances
Published by: Издателска къща "Гутенберг"
Keywords: Ottoman Currier services; Ottoman empire development; Financing; Seventeenth-Century; Eighteenth Century; History; Balkan history
Summary/Abstract: The paper studies the appearance and development of the menzil organization on the main roads of the Empire in Rumelia. The author explores the financing of the currier service. Its development in 17th and 18th century is presented as a complex process which depends on the decisions of the central authorities, but is strongly affected by the interests of the provincial elite and no less by the practices of the ulkas. The constant efforts of the state to bring order to the financing of the menzils can be seen in some fermans from 17th and 18th century. They, as well as the inamat defters, show that the system was difficult to reform due to the difference in the interests of the central authorities and those of the locals ayans in 18th century. Thhe menzils were a solid source of enrichment. They sucked in money from the state and the horses were used mostly for personal needs. This situation continued till 19th century when Mustafa Reshid Pasha established the postahane on the model of the European postal services.