Ottoman administrative and territorial system of Budjak and Ochakiv land

Abstract

The Ottoman territorial-administrative system of the North-Western Black Sea Coast was formed during the 15th-18th centuries within the historical-geographic lands that are part of modern Moldova and Ukraine. In the territories that are exclusively under the power of the Ottoman state, the Ottoman centralized territorial-administrative management system is being gradually introduced, starting from the formation of the smallest administrative units to the formation of sanjaks and later to their development as part of the eyalet Silistra-Ochakiv. 1. Creation of primary administrative administration – formation of self-governing civil communities and their territorial division in Budjak and Ochakiv land. 2. Judicial-administrative management and fiscal-territorial division of the North-Western Black Sea Coast. 3. The formation of sanjaks in the North-Western Black Sea coast and the formation of the Silistra-Ochakiv eyalet. In addition to the above, structures of the Crimean Tatar administration over the hordes were established on the redeemed lands given to the Crimean Khan, and territories with a predominantly Christian population were also organized. According to archival data, the territory of the North-Western Black Sea Coast in its military-administrative system is divided into three consecutively created sanjaks: Akkerman, Bender and Ochakiv, which are a constituent part of the Silistra-Ochakiv eyalet. At the same time, at the early stage of their existence, the Akkerman and Silistre sanjaks were the basis for the creation of the said eyalet. Each sanjak contained several judicial-administrative districts – kaza. In particular, the Akkerman sanjak covered the main part of Bujak and theSouthwestern edge of the Ochakiv land. Akkerman sanjak included kazas Akkerman, Kiliya, Tatarbunar and Ismail-gechedi. The Bender sanjak covered the territories of the kaza of the same name and the Transnistrian possessions of the Ochakiv land. Ochakiv sanjak was located on most of the confluence of the Dniester and Bug rivers, with the exception of the Transnistrian region. The administration of the qadis was carried out over the united communities – nahiye and redeemed territories – mukataa. In general, the main part of the Ottoman possessions in the North-Western Black Sea region was subject to the centralized administration of the Ottoman vertical ofpower, where the permanent territorial-administrative system of the provincial division of the Ottoman state was applied. In addition, the region contained a collection of lands with different forms of administrative organization without a single defined management system, which was based on the traditional forms of organization of these communities and, as a rule, was subordinated to the administration of the Crimean Khanate.