Analysis of The Ottoman Timar System in the Context of “Institutional Continiuty”

The timar system is a land based system with military, administrative, economic and legal dimensions. In this respect, although the land is at the center of the tımar system, it is releated to all institutions of the state. The historical roots of this system are based on ancient times. Many claims have been made about its origins up to now. In all states established as land based, the systems have the same or similar to each other. Ottoman State which is established as land based, also adopted the tımar system, too. Because of the fact that the timar system which has been functioning quite useful for so many years, was corrupted and could not be able to meet the needs of the time, the system has been subjected to a number of changes and transformations. However, although it could not meet the needs as much as before, it continued until the collapse of the Ottoman State. At this point, intitutional continuity of the system comes to the forefront. In our study, firstly, the historical origins of he timar system and the discussions on this subject were handled. After that, the establishment, the degeneration, the changes and transformations of the system in the Ottoman State were analyzed. Afterwards, it was explained when and under which conditions the break happened from the system. As a result, the timar system has shown institutional continuity throughout the historical process. While, all these were analyzing, theories and practices tried to be determined by case studies and process follow-up method.

Keywords

Ottoman Institutions and Civilization, Ottoman State, The Timar System, İltizam (Tax Farming) System, Manorialism System, Intitutional Continuity, Change and Transformation.