The Transformation of Rural Property Holding and Emergence of New Property Concepts: The Case of the Ottoman Balkans (1650-1793)

Abstract

This article examines the term ashâb-ı ‘alâka- literally translated as “interested parties/shareholders”-across two periods. First, it analyses the fiscal and legal connotations of the term’s components before its appearance in mid-eighteenth-century tax apportionment registers (tevzi defterleri) for Karaferye. Second, the study traces the evolution of the term as the rural property market expanded, reflecting the diversification of income sources for wealth accumulators from the late eighteenth century onward. Initially conflated with ashâb-ı çiftlik (landed estate owners), ashâb-ı ‘alâka gradually expanded to include a broader range of income-generating rural properties—whether through shared or outright ownership—beyond contained çiftlik holdings. By the nineteenth century, ashâb-ı ‘alâka had become central to regional bylaws and legal proceedings regulating agrarian relations with peasants in parts of the Balkans and Anatolia.