What do Istibdal Registers of Present on Urban Structure of Istanbul?
The 18th century was an era of change and transformation in both domestic practices and home life in Ottoman society, particularly in Istanbul. However, in research carried out on domestic architecture in the 18th century, due to an insufficient number of both buildings from the era that are still standing today and documents that depict them, it has been almost impossible to carry out a reliable documentary analysis of domestic culture and architecture and living conditions in the 18th century. For example, documents which describe/depict houses and life in this era are very rare. For these reasons, academic studies about the domestic culture of this period have been unsatisfactory to date. On the other hand, the available documents are not limited to these. A great number of official Ottoman documents, such as waqfiyes, tahrir and account registers from the waqfs, as well as correspondence of the Divan-ı Hümayun (State Council) and qadı (court) registers, can provide a great deal of data on the issues mentioned above. The court registers of Istanbul can be included in these documents. Registers dating between 1742 and 1764 have been classified by subjects and published. In this paper, the documents examined are those known as istibdal which include rich material on the domestic culture and architecture, as well as the city structure in the 18th century. Istibdal were transactions between waqfs and private individuals and were a means for exchanges of real estate properties.
H. GÖKÇEN ÖZKAYA
