Kigı Iron Mine and Humbarahane

At the time of Ottoman Empire the Kigı town was the center of township and sanjak. Initially it was connected to the Diyarbekir state, then to the Erzurum state, before the World War I, finally it was connected to the Harput state. At that time, various mines were extracted in that township of which the most important was iron. The mine dates back to the Akkoyunlu State. In the Ottoman Empire’s period, its production was interrupted for certain occasions.. Except for those occasions, the production was continued by tacksmen and emeers. During his excursion to Revan (1635) or Iran (1638), IV Murat built a humbarahane here. For a moment the production was halted; in 1735 it revived again. In 1817 another case like this was repeated. In 1839 it was closed absolutely. The existence of mine helped the Ottoman mining, the economy of the region and weapon industry. The villagers in the vicinity of the mine were tax exempted for working in mine. The products; slabs and cannon humbaras were sent to the Erzurum castle. Also it had an important role in fulfilling the need of ammunition of other castles in the East border. if appropriated, the mine was used to fulfill the need of ammunition of Europe border through Trabzon port. The amounts of workers and their earnings, the amounts and sum of the production of slab and humbara on the basis of batman and vukiyye, the price and amounts of construction products that used in facilities, the curtilage of facilities, and the information obtained about the kind and characteristic of tools and so on, shed light on the economic and military history of the region.

Keywords

Ottoman, Kigı, Iron mine, Cannon round, Kigı Humbarahane, Mine rayah,