A source about the region of Thessaly: The hijri 871 Icmal Defter of Sanjak of Trikala (1466-1467)

The conquest of Roumeli from Ottomans in the 14th and 15th century and their expansion in the region was very fast. Between 1386-1387 the eastern plain of Thessaly was conquered and this occurred/came true by the frontier lord Ghazi Evrenos Bey. After the conquest, the resettlement m ovement from Anatolia to Thessaly took place in two stages with the contribution of Evrenos bey. The first settlement movement took placed between 1384-1402, and the second settlement between 1423-1455. As a result of this settlement movement in the middle of 15th century, the number of Muslims in the region of Thessaly is seen to constitute a significant amount. Another frontier lord who plays a second important role in the conquest of Thessaly is Turakhan Bey (Turahan Bey). Turakhan Bey and his family had established many foundations (vakıf) in the whole region of Thessaly, like mosque, medrese, dervish lodge (zaviye), carvanseraies (kervasaray), bridges and fountains. After the conquest of Thessaly, as it was happening in the other conquered regions of the Ottoman Empire, the system of timar was started to be implemented. Timar system is very important for the military, administrative and socioeconomic structure of the Ottoman Empire. One of the most important sources which provide information about the functioning of this system is tax registers (tahrir defterleri). These tax registers contain important data on taxable population and income sources. One kind of these tax registers is icmal (icmal defteri). The main purpose of this study is to analyze the important data about the settlement movements and the population of Thessaly which are contained in Hijri 871 icmal defter of Sanjak of Trikala.