Socio-economic situation of Mengen district in the xixth century

In this study, the governmental, social and economic structures of Mengen during the XIXth century are researched in regard to presidency of the republic of Türkiye directorate of state archives. In the first chapter governmental, in the second chapter social and in the third chapter economic structure is addressed. Most of the archival record documents include complaints about governors of district. It is seen that Mengen became a sub-district of Gerede in 1870 when Kastamonu salname was put issued. During the 27 years from 1870 to 1897, eleven different governors of sub-district served. Except for the governors of district and sub-district, the list of headmen and other officers are also included in the in accordance with inspected documents. When the censuses held in 1831 and 1841 are compared, Mengen's population's rise from 4230 to 4644 and an increase of 9.98 % is observed. According to the salnames, the population, which decreased to 4612 with a decrease of 0,69 % in 1870, increased by 70.49 % to 8147 in 1898. The population registers dated 1831 are the books on which the transactions have been made, and the death dates of the persons were on noted. The year 1833 (H. 1248) draws attention in the book. That year, 150 children between the ages of 0 and 14 died, which is above the total number of child deaths recorded from other years between 1831 and 1840. The archive source we use to understand the economic structure is the temettuat registers containing very detailed information. Many information such as the income status of the people, the tax they have paid, the animals they had, how much of the land they cultivated and what products they cultivated were obtained from these books. In the study, the "cooking" profession which makes Mengen famous throughout Türkiye is also discussed. The cooks from Mengen became famous notably in the palace in 1826 upon abolition of Janissary corps. The cooks from Nevşehir, who supported the Janissary corps and dominated the palace, were eliminated with the abolition of Janissary corps and from this date on, cooks from Mengen started to replace the cooks from Nevşehir. In 1845, there were 249 cooks whose residence were in Mengen and all but a few were working in Istanbul.