Sanjak of Semendire (15th and 16th centuries)

The city of Semendire, which is located within the borders of Serbia today, was conquered in 1459 after many attempts by the Ottoman Empire. After the city was conquered, it was made the center of a sanjak covering a very large geography. This study attempts to explain the social and economic situation of the Sanjak of Semendire in the 15th and 16th centuries in the light of the data in the tahrir books. In our research, 11 kaza's of the Sanjak of Semendire were identified at various dates in the 15th and 16th centuries. It has been observed that there were border changes in these kaza from time to time and some of them were removed from the sanjak in the process. Since the Sanjak of Semendire was also an extreme center, there were many castles in the region. There were 12 fortresses in the sanjak, the largest of which were Semendire and Belgrade fortresses. Our study also includes information about the military organization in these fortresses. The data on the economy of the sanjak are classified from the tahrir books and listed under headings in our research. As far as we can see, in addition to the cereal agriculture in the region, especially the wine produced in connection with viticulture has an important place in the economy of the sanjak. A significant portion of the population of the Sanjak of Semendire consisted of non-Muslim Serbs. Muslims in the sanjak lived mostly in the city centers. At that time, there were many religious buildings built by Muslims in the city centers. In our study, the foundations of these buildings were identified and data on the income and expenditure status of these foundations were revealed. Keywords: Ottoman Empire, Balkans, Rumelia, Smederevo, Sanjak, City History, Economy, Social and Demographic Structure.