Economic and social life in Galata according to the Sharia Registry nr. 64 (H. 1052/ M. 1642-43)

The Ottoman Empire survived its existence for centuries in a wide geography that was not homogeneous in terms of religion, language, ethnic structure and culture. In addition to its military, economic, administrative, social, demographic and cultural characteristics, the understanding of law also played a major role in its survival for six centuries. The Ottoman sultans were aware of the importance of judiciary and law and instead of leaving the administration of the conquered regions to the military elements, they established courts and handed them over to the kadis. The shar'i courts, headed by the kadis, were the first judicial organs that people applied to in the regions where they lived. In this sense, the shari'a registers/kadi registers written by kadis contain economic and social records that are of interest to the public in terms of the subjects of the records they contain. Accordingly, we preferred to use Galata's shari'a registry nr. 64 covering the years 1642-1643 as the main source. Although it covers a short period, the diversity of the records is important in terms of reflecting many aspects of Galata in the period studied. In this study, the social and economic life of Galata between 1642 and 1643 is analyzed in the light of the 64 nr. Galata shari'a registry. In the first chapter of the thesis, which consists of three main parts, "A Brief History of Galata and the Institution of Kadi in the Ottoman Empire", the history of Galata was explained in outline and information was given about the institution of kadi in the Ottoman Empire. The second main chapter is called "Social Life". Under this title, the establishment and disintegration stages of the Ottoman family, the integration of women into social and economic life, the transactions of non-Muslims, slaves and mustemen in social and economic life is analyzed. The last main chapter is reviewed under the title of "Economic Life". Different from previous section, the focus is on commercial transactions, and economic activities such as the commercial transactions carried out by the foundations and the sale of property and debt exchange in which the people are involved are tried to be analyzed.