Pasha foundations in Bolu during Ottoman Period

Our master?s thesis titled ?Pasha Foundatıons In Bolu Durıng Ottoman Perıod? is the most exhaustive study relating to foundations established in Bolu until today. Fifteen pasha foundations operating in Bolu are studied under the light of the sharia registers of Bolu and documents found in the foundation books. Self-contained histories of the foundations and the contributions they made to Bolu are written based on the documents and data.Our master?s thesis comprises six chapters. The first chapter is an introduction on major studies carried out on foundations and the references used in the thesis; the second chapter gives Bolu?s history from the antiquity to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire; the third chapter provided information on the institution of the foundation. In chapter four, the biographies of the pashas who established foundations in Bolu and the self-contained histories of the foundations are addressed; chapter five gives the characteristics of pasha foundations of Bolu and their contributions thereto and in the sixth chapter the Ottoman foundations institution is addressed based on the pasha foundations in Bolu.It is observed that the time-slice they were established in brings significant differences to the service mentalities of the foundations. The general objective of the foundations which began their activities in the establishment period of the Ottoman state is to ensure that the state is seated on firm foundations in those places which were conquered. The foundations operating in the timeframe starting with the conquest of Istanbul until the 1600?s, on the other hand, strive to reflect the wealth of the era in the best manner. Due to the domestic and foreign developments experienced during the two centuries starting with the 1600?s up to the 1800?s the foundations were almost in an interregnum. In the 19th century, on the other hand, it is observed that the economic weakness the state was in also spread to the foundations. With the ministry of ?Evkâf-ı Humâyûn? (Imperial Foundations) established it was aimed both that the foundations administered by assembling under a single hand and that those foundations which were weaker were supported.Foundations have striven to serve in Bolu in many fields such as religious service, education, social aid, commerce, agriculture and security. Pashas have financed the maintenance, repairs and expenditures of charitable works which they built, such as the mosques, prayer rooms, soup-kitchens, theological schools, schools, hermitages, fountains and wells, with the revenues from the villages, caravanserais, inns, hammams, mills, factories, houses, plots etc. which they have dedicated.