FROM MOREA TO MARMARA: TSAKONIAN TRADE NETWORKS AND MIGRATORY MOVEMENTS DURING THE OTTOMAN PERIOD

Year 2018, Volume: 8 Issue: 14, 43 - 65, 10.02.2018

İbrahim Alper Arısoy

Abstract

Direct references to Tsakonia in Ottoman sources are quite rare. Apart from the Ottoman registers, which
might require detailed analyses and studies entirely devoted to this subject, and some references on the geography of
this remote and isolated area, the only source that gives direct information on Tsakonia is the famous Ottoman
traveller and chronicler Evliyâ Çelebi, who visited the region in the mid-17th century. References in the Ottoman
Archives on this area seem scarce as well, except for the indirect ones referring to the Tsakonian-origin Greek
settlements in the Marmara region, which are referred to as “Tsakonochoria of Marmara”. Despite its isolated
position, Tsakonia draws attention also with its close trade links with the centre of the Ottoman Empire. The principal
aim of this study is to account for this region’s socio-economic relations with the Marmara basin. 

Keywords

Morea, Tsakonia, Marmara Region

References

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• Nakracas, N., Anadolu ve Rum Göçmenlerin Kökeni (trans. İbram Onsunoğlu), Belge Yay.: Istanbul, 2003.
• Pakalın, M., Osmanlı Tarih Deyimleri ve Terimleri Sözlüğü, vol. 2, Milli Eğitim Basımevi: Istanbul, 1983.