Crisis Management in Ottoman Waqfs in the Context of Borrowing Strategies and Sarraf Loans (1750-1840)

Abstract

The Ottoman foundations created a wide range of economic activities that they shaped and controlled. It is obvious that there is a need for a different classification which is more suitable for economic and administrative evaluations to study the Ottoman foundations in administrative and financial terms. The central foundations, the so called sultanic, pasha and umera waqfs, which carried out their activities under strict control of various state agencies, managed huge budgets. These foundations, each organized as separate economic entities, have provided multi-layered and important services necessary to the social, municipal, cultural, religious, and civic life of the regions in which they were established.

Large central foundations, either entirely governed or supervised by officials appointed from the palace staff and managed by the founder’s descendants, were able to maintain a certain level of budget until the second half of the 18^th century. However, especially since the second half of this century, these waqfs have experienced large budget deficits. It is known that practices such as iltizam, malikâne, esham and kaime served the Ottoman central treasury as domestic borrowing and lending to finance the war economy from the early modern period to the mid-19^th century. However, our knowledge of the institutional crisis management practices of foundations which are the most widespread and longest-standing institutions in Ottoman history, and the strategies they developed during financial crises is still very limited. Based on these findings, the study examines the crisis management practices developed by the Ottoman foundation system in the face of budget deficits, particularly the borrowing strategies and the credit networks established with sarrafs.