Slavery and Slave Prices in the Crimean Khanate (According to Religious Court Records)

Abstract

Before the Crimean Khanate was established, the world-famous slave markets of the Latin Kingdoms, the Byzantine Empire and the Russians had long been on the Black Sea coast and north of the Black Sea. In other words, when the Crimean Khanate became an important state in the mentioned geography, it found the slave markets and the economic benefits that they created. The high return of the slave trade has become increasingly attractive. In particular, the hardship of the Ottoman Empire in the procurement of slaves by the end of the raiding activities encouraged the Crimean Tatars. In the following period, they became one of the important actors of the slave market.

It is seen that in the tereke records in the Crimean Khanate Sharia Records and some records of hüccet are frequently mentioned from slaves and concubines. The need and use of slave labor, the commercial relations created by the exchange as a commercial commodity, and the record of the disputes and the ways and methods of emancipation show the extent of the matter. Our study aims to illuminate the commercial sales prices and the position of the slaves in the Crimean Khanate. 

Keywords

• Crimean Khanate,Ottoman Empire,Crimean Peninsula,Slave

References

1. A. Archive Resources Bahçesaray Sharia Registry, 20-34-37-38-51-53 and 72th volumes. Karasu Sharia Registry, 25-33-47 and 65th volumes.
2. B. Other Resources Aydın, Mehmet Akif-Muhammed Hamidullah, Köle, XXVI, Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı, Ankara 2002. Çiçek, Kemal, Saydam, Abdullah, Kıbrıstan Kafkasyaya Osmanlı Dünyasında Siyaset, Adalet ve Raiyyet, Trabzon, Derya Kitapevi, 1998. Evliya Çelebi b. Derviş MehmedZılli, Evliya Çelebi Seyahatnamesi, Haz. Yücel Dalı, Seyit Ali Kahraman, Robert Dankoff, VII, Yapı Kredi Yayınları, İstanbul 2003. Fisher, Alan, TheCrimeanTatars, Hoover Institution Press, California 1978. İnalcık, Halil, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nun Ekonomik ve Sosyal Tarihi, Translate: Halil Berktay, I, İstanbul 2001. Sroeçkovskiy, V. E., Muhammed Geray Han ve Vasalları “Kırım Tarihi”, Translate:, Kemal Ortaylı, Su Yayınları, İstanbul 1979.