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The Population Of Aleppo In The Sixteenth And Seventeenth Centuries According To Ottoman Census Documents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

André Raymond
André Raymond
Affiliation:
University Of Provence
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Extract

1.1. Among the most obscure aspects of the past of Arab towns, that of the number of their population at different periods of their history must be mentioned. A better knowledge of their demography would no doubt bring more accurate answers to the main problems of urban evolution (expansion or decline, prosperity or decadence) as, through lack of well-founded figures, they have often been resolved by authors from general impressions or even from a priori attitudes. The first really serious statistics go no earlier than the end of the eighteenth century (Description de l'Egypte) for Cairo. For earlier periods, the only available sources for a long time were the evaluations provided by chronicles or travel accounts which proposed more or less fanciful and often divergent figures, the more reasonable evaluations often being a question of chance, or being considered so only because they confirmed the users' prejudices.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 16 , Issue 4 , November 1984 , pp. 447 - 460
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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References

1 Barkan, Ömer Lutfî, “Les grands recensements de la population et du territoire de l'Empire Ottoman,” in Revue de la Faculté des sciences économiques de l'Université d'lstanbul, 1940.Google Scholar

2 See, for instance, for Damascus, Bakhit, Adnan, The Ottoman Province of Damascus in ihe Sixteenth Century (Beyrouth, 1982);Google Scholar and Pascual, Jean-Paul, Damas à la fin du XVI è siècle (Damascus, 1983).Google Scholar

3 See Beldiceanu-Steinherr, Irène and Beldiceanu, N., “Règlement ottoman concernant le recensement (première moitié du XVI è siècle),” in Südost-Forschungen XXXVII, 1978.Google Scholar

4 Lewis, Bernard, “Ottoman Archives as a Source for the History of the Arab Lands,” in Studies in Classical and Ottoman Islam (London, 1976), pp. 146–147.Google Scholar Also Cohen, Amnon and Lewis, Bernard, Population and Revenue in the Towns of Palestine in the Sixteenth Century (Princeton, 1978), pp. 14–16.Google Scholar

5 Hütteroth, W. D. and Abdulfattah, K., Historical Geography of Palestine (Ertangen, 1977), p. 36 mention the suggestions of Barkan (5), Lewis (5 to 7), Cook (4, 5 for the khâna, 3 for the mujarrad) and they themselves propose 5 for the addition of the khâna and the mujarrad.Google Scholar

6 I could study them from the microfilms gathered in the Centre for Historical Research of the University of ⊂Ammân thanks to the amicable cooperation of Professor A. Bakhit, to whom I am happy to express my deep gratitude. On these documents see Lewis, “Ottoman Archives,” p. 150. Lewis dates the daftar 397 “circa 944/1537–1538.”Google Scholar

7 D'Arvieux, Mémoires vol. VI, pp. 434–437.Google Scholar

8 al-Ghazzî, Kāmil, Kitâb Nahral-Dhahab vol. II (Aleppo, 1342 H/1923–1924).Google Scholar

9 Sauvaget, Jean, Alep (Paris, 1941), pp. 225, 226, 230.Google Scholar

10 The letters and numbers refer to the grid of the maps which accompany this article.Google Scholar

11 Sauvaget, J. (Alep, p. 225) remarks that “les toponymes étant parfois transcrits d'une manière telle qu'ils demeurent méconnaissables, on ne peut procéder à une confrontation pour chacun des quartiers de la ville.”Google Scholar

12 According to a document which was communicated to me by Thieck, M. Jean-Pierre, this mahalla could have been located in the east suburb, around M 25 (Awâmir al-Sultâniyya [National Archives of Damascus, 1156/1743], Aleppo, IV, p. 217, n. 448).Google Scholar I did not take it into consideration in my study. This mahalla is mentioned in lbn Shihna's list, among the extra muros quarters of Aleppo (Sauvaget, Jean, “Les perles choisies d'lbn ach-Chihna” [Beyrouth, 1933], pp. 184–187).Google Scholar

13 These percentages are calculated in reference to the sum of the various census units, which is slightly different from the general total.Google Scholar

14 This is an application of a principle enunciated by Ferdinand Lot for medieval towns, a principle which, in my opinion, does not justify the skepticism of Lézine, Alexandre, Deux villes d'Ifririqiya (Paris, 1971), p. 17,Google Scholar and Nour, Antoine Abdel, Introduction à l'Histoire urbaine de la Syrie Ottomane (Beyrouth, 1982), p. 52. About Qâhira see my paper given at the Symposium of Washington on the Mamluks (to be published in Muqarnas 2).Google Scholar

15 Hütteroth, W. D. and Abdulfattah, K., Historical Geography, 36.Google Scholar

16 The important drop in the number of housing units mentioned by Ghazzî for the intra muros city towards the end of the nineteenth century can be explained by various reasons: diminution of the built-up area which is mentioned in Sauvaget's map LXX, north of the Citadel; consequences of the isasters of the beginning of the nineteenth century (earthquake of 1822, revolt and siege of Aleppo in 1819–1820) which resulted in severe destruction and in the abandonment of vast areas, especially in the south of the Citadel; beginning of the emigration movement of the population from the old city to the newly built quarters in the west.Google Scholar

17 For the whole historic city Ghazzî's census gives an average of 8.4 (100,224 inhabitants for 11,958 buyût).Google Scholar

18 Sauvaget, J., Perles choisies, pp. 184–187.Google Scholar

19 But a mahalla al-Yahûd already existed in Aleppo: it is mentioned in 1554 in the daftar Aleppo number 1, p. 158 (National Archives of Damascus).Google Scholar

20 See Raymond, André, “The Ottoman Conquest and the Development of the Great Arab Towns.” International Journal of Turkish Studies, 1:1, 1980, pp. 94–95.Google Scholar

21 Nour, Antoine Abdel, Introduction à l'histoire urbaine, p. 72.Google Scholar

22 Sauvaget, J., Alep, pp. 223–226, 228–231, and maps LXII and LXX. See also Raymond, “The Ottoman Conquest.”Google Scholar