A defter was a type of tax register and land cadastre in the Ottoman Empire.
Etymology
The term is derived from Greek diphthera διφθέρα, literally 'processed animal skin, leather, fur', meaning a book, having pages of goat
parchment[Wünsch, Διφθέρα. In: Realencyclopaedie des Classischen Alterthums, vol. V,1, col.1157–1158] used along with papyrus as paper in Ancient Greece, borrowed into
arabic language as دفتر
: , meaning a register or a notebook.
Description
The information collected could vary, but
tahrir defterleri typically included details of villages, dwellings, household heads (adult males and widows), ethnicity/religion (because these could affect tax liabilities/exemptions), and land use.
The defter-i hakâni was a land registry, also used for tax purposes.
Each town had a defter and typically an officiator or someone in an administrative role to determine whether the information should be recorded. The officiator was usually some kind of learned man who had knowledge of state regulations. The defter was used to record family interactions such as marriage and inheritance.
[Cleveland, W. L. (2004). A history of the modern Middle East. Boulder, Colo: Westview Press.] These records are useful for historians because such information allows for a more in-depth understanding of land ownership among Ottomans. This is particularly helpful when attempting to study the daily affairs of Ottoman citizens.
Some Ottoman officials responsible for these tax registries were known as .
Daftars in India
Records of this kind are known as
daftars in Northern
India as well, for instance the
Peshwa's daftar of
Pune.
[Govind Sakharam Sardesai (Ed.): Selections from the Peshwa Daftar. Bombay : Gov. Central Press 19XX]
External links
