According to the Cadastral Registry of the Island of Chios, no. 363

Control of Aegean Sea or Aegean Islands, which is an important and challenging issue for the states ruled in the Anatolia throughout the history, must have attracted the interest of the Ottoman Empire, because the Empire had also tried to directly or indirectly control the islands in the Aegean Sea. Definitely, controlling the said islands is crucial for any state. Thus, the Ottoman Empire followed a flexible policy for the control of this vulnerable region. Considering the geographical and ethical structure of the region, it was a compulsory result for the Ottomans. The Island of Chios, which is one of the important and the biggest islands of the region named as the Sea of Islands or Cezayir-i Bahr-i Sefid (Islands of Mediterranean) by the Ottomans, was conquered and became a sancak (province) of the Cezayir-i Bahr-i Sefid during the rise of the Ottoman Empire. Conquering of the island corresponds the last days of the reign of Suleiman, the Magnificent; the rule of the Ottoman Empire in the island lasted for 346 years. Just after the conquering of the island, the Ottoman Empire registered the tax population living in the island as it did for each region conquered (1566-1567). The cadastral registry of the year 1567, which is the subject of this thesis, provides information on the tax population in the island, the amount of lands owned by the tax payers and the amount jizya tax paid, a per capita tax levied on the empire?s non-Muslim citizens. Providing important information on the approximate number of people living in the island in that year, the amount of income the Empire obtained from the tax population, and the origin (Greeks, Italians ?), religion (Orthodox, Catholic ?), status (bey, chamberlain (kethüda) ?), marital status, physical characteristics (blind ?), occupations (miller, tradesman ?)of the people living in the island and the place they came from (Venice, Istanbul ?), the cadastral registry gives many clues on the living conditionsof the era. Transcribing these registries, which were written in an orthographic language type which have specific rules and technique, called Siyakat, will enlighten the dark sides of the Ottoman history, an important era of the Turkish history. The studies carried out so far show that this type of studies will provide better results in the future.