The non-muslim population in Central Anatolia according toBOA. NFS.d. 3556 (1830)

In this study, BOA NFS.d. 3556 (1246 Hijri/1830 A.D.), which contains the non-Muslim population of Central Anatolia, a part of Karaman Eyalet (Principality of Karaman) was transcripted from Ottoman Turkish to modern Turkish and aimed to shed light on the social and economic history of Central Anatolia. Owing to the information that these population records, it has been possible to get many information related to the social structure such as; the population in the Central Anatolia (Aksaray, Konya / Ereğli-Akşehir, Lârende / Karaman and Niğde / Bor) as well as the distribution of the population by districts (kaza), neighborhoods and streets/villages, etc.), age categories of the population (young, old, children etc.), moved/ migrated/transported people from one place to another, the numbers of houses, persons, streets, towns, skilled workers and their occupations, the nicknames of the people in the society and thus their characteristics and also qualifications of the non-muslim ecclesiastics. Records, containing the census between 1830-45 should not be considered as mere sources of information about the population. It is possible to obtain a lot of information revealing the social and economic aspects of settlements in all population records, including the record which originated our research. With these records, we are able to find information about the the occupations or the society, administrative authorities, physical characteristics, the nicknames of the individuals, the changes of the names of the dynasties and people from the past to the present, changes in the settlements and administrative structure and many other information. In addition to these, the population records provide valuable information about the settlement history of Anatolia. Owing to the records in population notes, it is possible to see the names of the ancestors of the individuals and to watch three generations in a household register (grandfather-grandchild) because people did not have last names in that period. This also means shedding light on the social and economic history of the three generations. For this reason, population records are very valuable sources that are connected with the previous and following century of the census. These sources also provide information about the position and situation of non-Muslims in Anatolia. In this context, the situation of the non-Muslims in the imperial lands was explained and evaluated by the nation system implemented in the Ottoman Empire.