Two more Firmans on the Reorganisation of the Ottoman Postal System (1101/1690 and 1209/1794)
Two more Firmans on the Reorganisation of the Ottoman Postal System (1101/1690 and 1209/1794)
Documents from the Amasya and Damascus Kadi Sicils
Author(s): Choon Hwee KohSubject(s): Diplomatic history, 17th Century, 18th Century
Published by: Akadémiai Kiadó
Keywords: Ottoman Empire; economic and social history; the Ottoman ulaḳ (courier system); early modern communications; relay station systems; bureaucracy; Ottoman paleography and diplomatics
Summary/Abstract: The present article publishes the texts and translations of two firmans of Süleyman II (1101/1690) and Selim III (1209/1794) that were taken from copies in the kadi registers (sicil) of Amasya and Damascus. They concerned the reform of the Ottoman courier and post-station (ulaḳ / menzilḫāne) network with regard to the Anatolian routes. In contrast to the wide-ranging reforms featured by two other firmans (1108/1696) that Colin Heywood translated in this journal in 2001, these firman texts feature small-scale, targeted reforms. Read together, these firmans shift our understanding of reform away from singular moments of intervention towards a longer-term, incremental model of maintenance.
Journal: Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
- Issue Year: 76/2023
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 149-164
- Page Count: 16
- Language: English
- Content File-PDF