International Journal of History and Culture Studies

Abstract

When the Ottoman State was founded on the lands of the Byzantine and Anatolian Seljuks, a large part of the people worked in a heritage and permanent tenancy relationship on the lands that did not belong to him. Many political disorders in Anatolia and the Balkans caused the emergence of a land order similar to the feudal regime. With the strengthening of the Ottoman State over time, the lands of the Anatolian Beyliks and Byzantine fell into the hands of the Ottomans. The first Ottoman sultans detained ownership of the land for the state treasury and distributed its use among the soldiers in exchange for military service.
The Ottoman State encountered an irregular overlord system with a kind of land slavery when it was founded and in places it conquered later. This system interfered with the existing land order and ended the nobility based on the land in order to prevent negative consequences in land relations (such as the majority of the people working as a serf and slave in the overlord farm, the shrinkage of agricultural holdings). Thus, by removing the tillage from the serfs, it created a tenancy scheme with a contract only between the feudal lord and the owner of the groomer instead of the serf. Such a land order is possible with the ownership of the land in the state, therefore, while the Ottoman Sultans left the ownership of some of the conquered land to the public, they left the property of some of them to the treasury and left only the right of use to the public.
With the publication of the Land Law in 1858, it was aimed to bring an order to the Ottoman land system, which had a scattered structure. With this law, the way to private property in the land has been opened. Now, people outside of the state would be able to own land by making use of this law. In addition, an amendment made in the law in 1867 allowed foreigners to own property in the Ottoman country. In addition to these legal rights, the owner also had other rights. For example, he could save under and above the land as he wished. In case of the death of the landowner, the property passes to the land heirs. In the absence of an heir, the land would pass to the state and behave as the land.
The establishment of the Ministry of Agriculture has a special importance in the Ottoman agriculture in the 19th century. The absence of a separate and special institution for the management of agricultural affairs prior to the establishment of the Ministry of Agriculture is an indication of the importance given to the Agriculture Ministry. However, due to the lack of necessary infrastructure and economic reasons, this important initiative did not achieve the desired success. In 19th century Ottoman agriculture, agriculture schools were opened in order to closely follow scientific developments in agriculture and to apply them in the Ottoman State. The opening of Halkalı Agricultural School, Bursa Agricultural School, Ankara Shepherd School, Forestry and Maadin Schools are important developments aiming to make agriculture with scientific methods. 19th century Ottoman agriculture was a century of intense innovation movements in agriculture, in parallel with the importance given to agriculture in order to restore the economic development of the state. Application of incentive methods to farmers, establishment of credit institutions such as Ziraat Bank, and participating in international exhibitions are just a few of these developments.
Agriculture is important in the Ottoman state as it is a traditional livelihood. By the 18th century, the Ottoman state was in decline politically, militarily and economically. Due to this decline, managers took measures and investigated the reasons for the decline. It has progressed scientifically with the European Age of Enlightenment. These advances were also made in the field of agriculture and with the modern agricultural practices, they started to get the highest yield from the soil. Taking into consideration these problems related to agriculture, the Ottomans initiated reform works in the Tanzimat period in order to eliminate the deficiencies in the field of agriculture. Modernization studies in the field of agriculture started with the establishment of the Meclis-i Umûr-ı Nafia. Besides, experts from America and Europe were brought. One of the important livelihoods in the Ottoman state is undoubtedly viticulture. Grape cultivation was made widely, especially in the Aegean region. One of the reasons why agriculture did not develop in the Ottoman state before was that the people were unaware of the innovations made in the field of agriculture. While innovations such as seed breeding, fertilizing the soil, working with machinery and harvesting the product with machinery were seen in the west, in the Ottoman State, the farmer was still farming with old methods.