Străjuirea navigaţiei pe Dunăre în epoca otomană:derbendcilik-ul
POLICING THE DANUBE IN OTTOMAN TIMES: THE DERBENDCILIK

Summary/Abstract: The Ottoman control over the Danube river had a twofold objective. On the one hand, it provided means of fiscal control via custom taxes (the gümrük) and transit taxes (such as the vozarlõk, resm-i ubur, geçer bâcõ, etc.). On the other, it ensured military and naval protection, chiefly via the Danubian fortresses with their garrisons and flotillas, but also via territorial structures such as villages of so-called derbendci. In exchange for the security services they provided on the banks of the Danube, the derbendci were tax-exempt. Institutions such as these had antecedents in ancient imperial, Roman-Byzantine as well Romanian-Slavic arrangements. Two previously unknown Ottoman orders issued by the Sultan Süleyman Kanunî (dated 10 August and 10 September 1565) contain important information on the sites of derbendci villages in regions of Ottoman Dobrudja (at Karaharman, today the village of Vadu in Constan􀄠a county, and at Prislava, today Nuf􀄃rul in Tulcea county, both on the Sf. Gheorghe arm). They show how the institution of the derbendcilik worked, give indications of the derbendcis’ tax status and of their roles, and provide interesting evidence for some locations (for instance, the “Lyko mouth” of the Chilia arm).

• Details
• Contents