Jews and Judaism in Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatname

This thesis deals with the population, occupations, synagogues, and cemeteries of the Jews living in the Ottoman Empire, and the attitude of the Ottoman Empire towards the Jews within the framework of Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatnâme (Travelogue). Firstly, the passages related to the Jews mentioned in the Seyahatnâme were determined and the chapters of the thesis were created. The thesis examined and elaborated the information provided by Evliya Çelebi about Jews by using additional sources. The first chapter tried to draw the distribution map of the Jews living in Ottoman lands according to their population and cities. It also examines the changes that took place in the cities, where the population of the Jews was densely populated between the XV-XVII centuries. The second chapter deals with the occupations of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire. The third chapter deals with the religious life of the Jews and the number of synagogues and cemeteries according to the density of the cities where they live. Key words: Evliya Celebi, Seyahatname, Ottoman, Jews, Jewish, Synagogue, Cemetery/Jewish cemetery