Dulkadir Eyalet () or Marash Eyalet () was an

eyalet Eyalets (, , ), also known as beylerbeyliks or pashaliks, were the primary administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire. From 1453 to the beginning of the nineteenth century the Ottoman local government was loosely structured. The empire was a ...

of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

History

The

Dulkadirids The Beylik of Dulkadir () was one of the Turkish Anatolian beyliks (principality) established by the Oghuz Turk clans Bayat, Afshar, and Begdili after the decline of Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm. Etymology The meaning of Dulkadir is unclear. ...

were the last of the Anatolian emirates to yield to the Ottomans, managing to remain independent until 1521, and were not fully incorporated into the empire until 1530. It is unclear when the eyalet was formed. Ottoman historian

Ibn Kemal Şemseddin Ahmed (1469–1534), better known by his pen name Ibn Kemal (also Ibn Kemal Pasha) or Kemalpaşazâde ("son of Kemal Pasha"), was an Ottoman historian,''Kemalpashazade'', Franz Babinger, ''E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1 ...

explained that the territory formerly ruled by Ali was divided into five sanjaks with governors appointed by the central government with no mention of the appointment of a

beylerbey ''Beylerbey'' (, meaning the 'commander of commanders' or 'lord of lords’, sometimes rendered governor-general) was a high rank in the western Islamic world in the late Middle Ages and early modern period, from the Anatolian Seljuks and the I ...

. The province was described as , a region instead of an eyalet, by the 1526

defter A ''defter'' was a type of tax register and land cadastre in the Ottoman Empire. Etymology The term is derived from Greek , literally 'processed animal skin, leather, fur', meaning a book, having pages of goat parchment used along with papyrus ...

. A record, thought to be from 1527, listed Marash as part of

Karaman Eyalet Karaman Eyalet () was one of the subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire. Its reported area in the 19th century was . In 1468, the formerly independent principality of Karaman was annexed by the Ottomans; Mehmed II appointed his son Mustafa as gov ...

, while Bozok belonged to

Rum Eyalet Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is often aged in barrels of oak. Rum originated in the Caribbean in the 17th century, but today it is produced in nea ...

. Dulkadir Eyalet was likely established shortly after the

grand vizier Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...

Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha ( 149515 March 1536), was the first Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire appointed by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Ibrahim, born as Orthodox Christian, was enslaved during his youth. He and Suleiman became close frie ...

extinguished the Kalenderoghlu revolt the same year and took administrative precautions to maintain order in the realm. Historian attests to the beylerbey of Dulkadir in in 1538.

Administrative divisions

Demographics

In the early 16th century, a significant portion of the province's population was composed of nomadic

Turkmens Turkmens (, , , ) are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, living mainly in Turkmenistan, northern and northeastern regions of Iran and north-western Afghanistan. Sizeable groups of Turkmens are found also in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, ...

of the Dulkadir tribe. According to the 1526 defter, the region consisted of 69,481 households (approximately 350,000 people), 48,665 (about 245,000 people), 18,158, and 2,631 of whom were Dulkadir nomads, settled Muslims, and Christians, respectively. The region included 523 villages, 3412 hamlets, 62 farms, 64

kishlak Kishlak or qishlaq (, , , , ), or qıştaq () qıstaw () is a rural settlement of semi-nomadic Turkic peoples of Central Asia and Azerbaijan. The meaning of the term is "wintering place" in Turkic languages (derives from Turkic ''qış'' - win ...

s (winter pastures), and 35

yaylak Yaylak ( or ; ; ; ; ; ; ) is a summer highland pasture associated with transhumance pastoralism in several Central and West Asian Turkic communities. There are different variants of yaylak pastoralism forms of alpine transhumance, some of whi ...

s (summer pastures). The population of the eyalet increased in 1570–1580, when it housed 113,028 households (approximately 550,000 people), 70,368, 38,497, and 4163 of whom were settled Muslims, nomads, and Christians, respectively. Around those times, the province had 2169 sworded

timar A timar was a land grant by the sultans of the Ottoman Empire between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, with an annual tax revenue of less than 20,000 akçes. The revenues produced from the land acted as compensation for military service. A ...

s and 5500 levy. During the 17th century, it increased to 2869 sworded timar and 6800 levy.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * Eyalets of the Ottoman Empire in Anatolia History of Kahramanmaraş Province History of Adıyaman Province Eyalets of the Ottoman Empire in Asia 1522 establishments in the Ottoman Empire 1864 disestablishments in the Ottoman Empire Dulkadir Eyalet {{Ottoman-stub