Descrizione

Paperback. Pbo. Roy. 8vo. (24 x 17 cm). In English and Turkish. 310 p., ills. Nomads in the Ottoman Empire.= Osmanli döneminde konar-göçerler. The Turks migrated originally from Central Asia to Anatolia between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries. Most of them were sedentary communities. However, a significant portion was nomads, called Oghuz, or Türkmen, at that time. These nomads used to move between regions identified as summer pasturages and winter quarters in order to graze their animals. Therefore, their lifestyle was substantially different from sedentary life. Even after Anatolia was brought under Ottoman rule by the end of the first quarter of the 16th century, they continued their traditional lifestyle. During the Ottoman conquests, these nomads migrated to the Balkans in accordance with the policy pursued by the state. The nomads in the Balkans were generally organized as military units. During the Ottoman period the nomads were known by the names of Türkmen and Yörük or Yürük. These names were generally used to describe their way of life, rather than their ethnic origin. However, these terms were often sed interchangeably. At the same time, various other words were used for the nomads, such as 'Konar-göçer', 'Göçebe', 'Göçer-yörük', 'Göçerler', and 'Göçer-evliler'. The most common one among these was 'Konar-göçer'. All of these words are found in Ottoman archival documents and carry only the meaning of 'nomad'. Geographically, the nomads of the Ottoman period spread from Anatolia to the Balkans and formed an important portion of the Ottoman population. Despite this fact, research remains insufficient regarding the nomadic peoples. The reason for this has been keener isterest by historians in Turkey concerning the foundation of the Turkish Republic and political and administrative issues rather than nomadism. Research in Ottoman social history was not popular among these historians. However, as research on Ottoman social history grew, so did interest in nomadic populations.