Ottoman Range Organization: Example of Bolvadin Range

The communication system is one of the biggest factors in the healthy development of a state. This system has developed in direct proportion to transportation. All states in history gave importance to transportation and road safety was ensured thanks to this. Buildings called menzils were constructed on the roads and the Menzil Organization was established. This Menzil Organization, which was an important communication and transportation network in the Ottoman Empire, was established at certain distances in order to ensure communication between states and to control the administration of the administration and recorded as accommodation places. Developing over time and having different functions, the ranges included services such as the provision of the army, the accommodation of state officials, and meeting the needs and resting of pilgrimage caravans in addition to communication. In this thesis, the first quarter of the 18th century, the range organization system of the Ottoman Empire and the Bolvadin Range are discussed. Bolvadin (an accident of Afyonkarahisar), located on the Right Branch route of Anatolia, which constitutes the main element of the study, became the center of the Ottoman Empire and an important settlement. As a matter of fact, it had a strategic role within the network of the range organization. As an economically and administratively developed region, the Bolvadin range had many functions in Ottoman history. Among the most remarkable functions of the range, which served as both a communication and military range for many years, is the pilgrimage journey due to the route.