Rural settlement in the provi̇nce of trabzon: A case study of nahi̇ye of Yomra (1461-1682)

Yomra, a typical Ottoman nahiye in Eastern Black Sea Region, was known as Gêmôrá before the Ottoman conquest of Trabzon in 1461 and the population of the region consisted only non-Muslims. A significant process of change had begun with Ottomans in the structures of population and settlement and the ethnic and religious formation of the region undergone a big transformation. The main goals of this dissertation are to examine and comprehend the transformation which had taken place in the ethnic and religious structure of the population of Yomra Nahiye between 1461 and 1682. To this end, all documents including the data showing the way to the ethnic and religious structure in the 16th century tapu-tahrir defters, court records and the detailed defters of awarıd and cizya of Trabzon from 17th century were detected. In the first part, historical sources, problematic-hypothesis and methodology of the thesis are described and former studies focusing on Ottoman demographic history and rural population in Anatolia and Eastern Black Sea Region are touched upon. Next, geographical features and settlement patterns of Yomra and historical background of the region were evaluated by centering on literature and Ottoman sources. New demographic evolutions, settlement patterns, population structure and ethnic and religious formation in Yomra between 1461 and 1582 were identified in third part. The main section is devoted to findings regarding the events affecting population structure and their dimensions by touching upon the ethnic and religious transformation of the region from the end of the sixteenth century to last quarter of seventeenth century. All documents gathering from different Ottoman sources indicate that XVth and XVIth centuries are only initial stages of the ethnic and religious transformation of the population of Yomra. Consequently, in the light of the findings gathered from all Ottoman sources, the study has demonstrated a historical tendency in paralled with the serious problems of XVIIth century and ethnic and religious transformation of the society in Yomra. Key Words: Nahiye of Yomra, Settlement, Population, religious and ethnic transformation. Seventeenth century.