After the long lasting Ottoman-Karaman fighting by joining into the Ottoman administration in 1474 İçel organized as a sancak being part of province of Karaman. However, after the conquest of Island of Cyprus the sancak as well Sis, Alâiye and Tarsus later on were parts of province of Cyprus being founded. In 1500 the standard of İçel consisted of 4 kazas (Ermenek, Gülnar, Karataş and Mut). The number of kazas increased to 5 in 1522 with Selendi separating from the kazas of Gülnar, in 1555 to 6 with Silifke separating from the district of Mut, in 1584 to 9 with Anamur separating from the kazas of Mut and with Bozdoğan separating from the kazar of Silifke. The numbers of villages in the sancak also showed and increase during the 16 century. The presence of villages in 1500 was 511 which became 627 in 1518, in 1555 it was 615 which in 1584 became 648. About 90 % of the village obtained Turkish names. The estimated population of the sancak of İçel indicated an increase during the 16 century. When in 1500 the estimated population of the sancak was 81256 this figure in 1518 was 117656, in 1555 164206 and in 1584 203014. The population in the sancak almost lives in villages and the population in the cities is almost % 2 of the total sancak population. Furthermore in the bachelor population in the sancak in particular during the last quarter of 16. century an important increase was recorded. The population which was 2921 in 1500 increased with an percentage of 104, 58 to 5976 in 1518. The bachelor population in 1535 was 8486 which after 33 years in creased with an percentage of 27961 to 32214 in 1584. In the interior of the sancak of îçel of the 16 century there were 8 fortresses (Avgadi, Ermenek, İkisırma, Manyan, Mara, Mavga, Mut and Silifke) and persons who are on duty. After the conquest of the Island of Cyprus this figure increased to 10 with the vivification of the fortresses of Mamuriyye and Akça Kale which in the past were present at the two points where the roads in Anatolia reached the sea.362 At the standard of İçel agriculture is the dominating mode of production. The majority of the population is employed in the agricultural sector. As the land of sancak is stony and holly as well the condition of climate is warm at the coast in the agricultural production there is no surplus. In the region there is little quantify of arable land and wheat and barley sowing is the main production. Further more in the districts of Mut and Anamur with rich streams there is paddy production. At the sancak like agriculture stock-breeding is also widely spread and each village has 1000 sheep's. During the 16. century the number of sheep's for each house indicated a decline. In 1500 the number of 42 for a house in 1584 was 22. In içel beside agricultural production there are also large-scale industrial enter prices like dye-factory, grind-factory, soap-factory, cotton weaving factory are the principal trade branches. As the sancak of içel is located at the Mediterranean sea there are lots of parts. When in 1518 there were 3 officially registered customs ports (Anamur, Gelindire, Seki Fortress) at the mid-15tn century ports of Akliman, Su-ağzı and at the second half of 15tn century ports of GÜrgüs (Korikos) Beşparmak were added. The volume of procedure of the ports are not high. A great deal of the land of the sancak of İçel is mîrî (crown) land, there is a few vakıf wd mülk (freehold) lands and most of that consist of registered arable fields in the registration books. Settlements units like village and mezraa are very few. For example in 1522 the number of foundation of villages was 4 and number of mezraa was 1. At the same date the number of viniculture was 54 and of zemîn 315. The vakıf and mülk lands experience a density in the kazas of Mut and Ermenek. A great deal of the income of mîrî land in the sancak an important percentage is reserved for timâr and zeamet. The tribes lords and their sons were serving the incomes of the member villages and mezraa. The majority of income (37.71 %) is between 2000-3000 akça. |