Demographic Structure of the 18th Century Ottoman Rule in the Balkans: A Study of Judicial Records (Qādī Sijil) in Manastir
Based on archival materials left by the Ottomans, it has become incumbent upon the Ottoman or Balkan historian to investigate and analyze as objectively as possible the history of Ottoman rule in this region. Among all the documents contained in the Ottoman archives those of the judicial records (Shari’ah or Qadi Sijils) are considered to be the most important. In them we have both a reliable objective source and a chronology of history with regard to the Balkans and other regions. These records were not merely compilations of bureaucratic, administrative and verbose data relating only to judicial, social, architectural, economic, and agricultural undertones. These facts are already explicitly stated in the Sijils themselves. It is, however, implicit facts which are of great importance and which are of enormous historical significance. Demographic structure is among the most complicated and disputed issue among the historians of religion and social sciences. Taking into consideration the objective data found in the Shari’ah Sijils, particularly to those pertaining to the most important district of the Ottomans in the Balkans namely Manastir (today Bitola), the subject of demography will be analyzed as objectively as possible. In addition, in this article, both explicit and implicit facts will be studied.