Ayan (class): Difference between revisions

This decision granted, for the first time, political access and power to those outside of the Sultan's inner circle. This decentralization allowed wealth to play a more significant factor in local influence and power. Author Gabriel Piterberg notes that, "…the main social characteristic of the rising ayan was that they were of reaya (Ottoman subject, non-military) origin, and that their ascendency can be seen as a part of a wider phenomenon… through which people of reaya origin had been able to join the askeri (tax-collecting, military) class of the empire since the 17th century."<ref name=Piterberg1990/> From the 16th century on, the Ottoman central government made repeated efforts to re-centralize the Empire, and though some efforts were more successful than others, none were able to eliminate the local influence held by the ayan.

 

 

The Iltizam tax system consisted of tax farming. The Ottoman Empire, rather than using its own resources to collect taxes, awarded tax collecting rights to the highest bidder, who could keep profits after sending a portion back to the central government.<ref name=Piterberg1990/> Though access to these tax farms took different forms throughout the period, local a'yan developed into the chief owners of these rights. They were very efficient at sending money back to the center (far more than the governors in the preceding [[Timar]] System) and their local nature gave them more knowledge of the region and a vested interest in its success.<ref name=Piterberg1990/>