LOFCA TOWN İN XVI. CENTURY

Abstract

Lovech, which was a town subordinate to Niğbolu district during the 16th century,became a municipal town subordinate to Vidin district subsequently. The townwhich had many Islamic works as a municipal town in the Ottoman period wasbeing called Altın Lovech (Golden Lovech from Turkish). Ottoman administrationand order matured within a short period thanks to the timar system implemented bythe Ottoman Empire in that region.The present study examines Lovech in the classical period of the Ottoman Empire.Basically, two detailed tax registers were used as reference in the study. The firstone is the register dated 1516 belonging to Selim I period, and the second one is theregister dated 1579 belonging to Murad III period. Neighborhoods in the city centerof Lovech and Muslim and Non-Muslim populations in these neighborhoods weredetermined through the tax registers examined. In addition, the changes in theexamination period were analyzed. Then, central revenues in the city center ofLovech were given in detail in a table. Agricultural products produced in the ruralLovech were determined, taxes collected from these products were revealed, andtheir ratios within all revenues of the city were detected.It is seen that Lovech developed and acquired a characteristic Ottoman cityidentity within the examined period as a result of the Ottoman conquest andsettlement policy. It is realized that agricultural sector and service sector of the citywere much more developed than the industry sector in the said period.