engleski

The role of forests in the spread of revolts and banditry in Ottoman Slavonia in the 16th and 17th centuries

The state of forests of the Ottoman Empire during the 16th and 17th centuries and their socioeconomic and cultural importance is still a sparsely researched topic. It is difficult to research the state of forests because the majority of Ottoman sources are silent when it comes to forests in the mentioned period. The present paper focuses on the case of Ottoman Slavonia, i.e. the three Ottoman sancaks: Sancak of Srijem (Sirem), Sancak of Požega (Pojega), and Sancak of Pakrac (Pakraç, Bakriç, Zaçasna, or Çernik). The aim of the paper is to describe the importance of forests for the population of Slavonia, which used forests for hiding in the time of frequent wars in the proximity of the Habsburg-Ottoman border. In peacetime, on the other hand, Slavonian forests were a good place to hide if you were a hayduk or bandit or were resisting Ottoman rule for any other reason. Dense Slavonian forests were often impassable and uncontrollable territories and therefore a more than average number of pass keepers and bridge keepers populated the territory of Slavonia and had a duty to drive away hayduks and bandits who used to reside in forests. The author ascertains that the forests of Slavonia positively affected the frequency of revolts and banditry and thus diminished the effectiveness of Ottoman rule. The paper is based on published and unpublished Ottoman tax registers for the three mentioned sancaks, on the relevant Mühimme registers, and on the bibliography on the situation on the Habsburg- Ottoman frontier in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Ottoman Empire, 16th and 17th centuries, Slavonia, forests, hayduks, revolts, banditry

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