The Big Farms (Ciftliks) in the Ottoman Economy in Terms of Their Status and Natures (18th Century)

The Ottoman Empire’s economic structure was based on land; and within this structure, agriculture and animal husbandry were conducted within the timar system, while the civil entrepreneurs who wanted to make their own investment also appeared. One of these civil groups was the capital-owners who possessed the big farms. With an investigation of the general features of these big farms, the study conceptualizes the ？iftlik-owners as the economically strong agents in agricultural production and animal husbandry across the Ottoman lands. In this context, this study scrutinizes the workers, the incomes and expenses of the big farms and examines their roles in the production-consumption system of these units. It focuses on the farms whose boundaries, owners, statues and functions were clearly identified. But at the same time it excludes the units with the limited amount of land plowed by a team of oxen which were not suitable for a commercial growth. In other words, the farms under study are autonomous or privately owned farms which were mainly profit-oriented and commercially driven enterprises. The primary sources of the study are the documents kept at the prime ministerial Ottoman archives