:Defter
{{Short description|Type of tax register and land cadastre in the Ottoman Empire}}
{{redirect|Daftar|the village in Xinjiang, China|Dafdar}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
A defter was a type of tax register and land cadastre in the Ottoman Empire.{{Cite book|last=Suleiman|first=Yasir|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/963672141|title=Being Palestinian : personal reflections on Palestinian identity in the diaspora|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year=2016|isbn=978-0-7486-3403-3|location=Edinburgh|pages=368|chapter=Glossary|oclc=963672141}}
Etymology
The term is derived from Greek {{Lang|grc-latn|diphthera}} {{Lang|grc|διφθέρα}}, literally 'processed animal skin, leather, fur', meaning a book, having pages of goat parchmentWünsch, Διφθέρα. In: Realencyclopaedie des Classischen Alterthums, vol. V,1, col.1157–1158 used along with papyrus as paper in Ancient Greece, borrowed into Arabic as {{Lang|ar|دفتر}}: {{Transliteration|ar|daftar}}, meaning a register or a notebook.
Description
The information collected could vary, but tahrir defterleri typically included details of villages, dwellings, household heads (adult males and widows), ethnicity/religion (because these could affect tax liabilities/exemptions), and land use.{{cite journal|last=Cosgel|title=Ottoman Tax Registers (Tahrir Defterleri)|journal=Historical Methods|year=2004| volume=37|issue=2|pages=87–100|doi=10.3200/HMTS.37.2.87-102 |s2cid=18492628 |url=http://digitalcommons.uconn.edu/econ_wpapers/200247/|access-date=1 November 2011}} The defter-i hakâni was a land registry, also used for tax purposes.{{cite book|last=Barnes|title=An introduction to religious foundations in the Ottoman Empire|year=1987| publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-08652-4| pages=151}} Each town had a defter and typically an officiator or someone in an administrative role to determine whether the information should be recorded. The officiator was usually some kind of learned man who had knowledge of state regulations. The defter was used to record family interactions such as marriage and inheritance.Cleveland, W. L. (2004). A history of the modern Middle East. Boulder, Colo: Westview Press. These records are useful for historians because such information allows for a more in-depth understanding of land ownership among Ottomans. This is particularly helpful when attempting to study the daily affairs of Ottoman citizens.
Some Ottoman officials responsible for these tax registries were known as defterdars.
Daftars in India
Records of this kind are known as daftars in Northern India as well, for instance the Peshwa's daftar of Pune.Govind Sakharam Sardesai (Ed.): Selections from the Peshwa Daftar. Bombay : Gov. Central Press 19XX
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Wiktionary|defter}}
- [https://www.devletarsivleri.gov.tr/Sayfalar/Yayinlar/Yayinlar.aspx Publications of Turkey's Directorate of State Archives]