Avariz
Encyclopedia
Avariz was a tax in the Ottoman Empire
, an annual cash tax paid by households registered in a defter
.
Initially, nüzül
was seen as an alternative to avariz; nuzul was (in principle) a payment of food, in kind. In times of war, villages might be required to supply food to army supply points, or they might be required to supply cash; but never both. Over time, this relationship changed, and both might be demanded (whilst nüzül also became a cash tax).
Detailed Ottoman tax registers
survive which show the levels and details of taxation in different provinces. Although the tax burden was very variable, nüzül and avariz were very important taxes in the 17th century - for instance, they represented 58% of all tax revenue in Manastir in 1621-1622 - but by the 18th century their importance had declined, and more money was collected through other taxes.
An avarizhane was a household defined for tax purposes. Initially, this was equivalent to one gercekhane (i.e. a real household), but over time, taxpayers were aggregated into larger groups; by the seventeenth century, an avarizhane might include several households, or gercekhanes.
Avariz might be collected through an Iltizam
, or tax farm.
s were founded to help communities pay their nüzül
and avariz obligations each year.
The Ottoman Empire had a complex system of tax exemptions, and avariz was no exception. Various groups were exempted from avariz on the basis of lineage, public service by favoured professions, and sometimes a district's an exceptional inability to pay (for instance, if the district had already paid heavily towards other taxes, or been ravaged by warfare). The most common exemption was for villages which had been assigned guard duties.
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, an annual cash tax paid by households registered in a defter
Defter
A Defter was a type of tax register in the Ottoman Empire. The information collected could vary, but tahrir defterleri typically included details of villages, dwellings, household heads , ethnicity/religion , and land use.The defter-i hakâni was a land registry, also used for tax...
.
History
In early Ottoman history, the state depended on the timar system of feudal dues; but over time - especially due to the need to hire professional soldiers rather than peasants serving a feudal military obligation - more emphasis was placed on cash taxes, and avariz took over from the timar system. Avariz began in the late fifteenth century.Initially, nüzül
Nüzül
-Mechanism:Nüzül was designed as a form of requisitioning from farms, to feed Ottoman armed forces; large quantities of food were needed to support Ottoman armies in the field. Flour was a major constituent in the 16th-17th century. Producers were expected to deliver nüzül to the required...
was seen as an alternative to avariz; nuzul was (in principle) a payment of food, in kind. In times of war, villages might be required to supply food to army supply points, or they might be required to supply cash; but never both. Over time, this relationship changed, and both might be demanded (whilst nüzül also became a cash tax).
Detailed Ottoman tax registers
Defter
A Defter was a type of tax register in the Ottoman Empire. The information collected could vary, but tahrir defterleri typically included details of villages, dwellings, household heads , ethnicity/religion , and land use.The defter-i hakâni was a land registry, also used for tax...
survive which show the levels and details of taxation in different provinces. Although the tax burden was very variable, nüzül and avariz were very important taxes in the 17th century - for instance, they represented 58% of all tax revenue in Manastir in 1621-1622 - but by the 18th century their importance had declined, and more money was collected through other taxes.
An avarizhane was a household defined for tax purposes. Initially, this was equivalent to one gercekhane (i.e. a real household), but over time, taxpayers were aggregated into larger groups; by the seventeenth century, an avarizhane might include several households, or gercekhanes.
Avariz might be collected through an Iltizam
Iltizam
An Iltizam was a form of tax farm that appeared in the 17th century in Ottoman Egypt. Iltizams were sold off by the government to wealthy notables, who would then reap up to five times the amount they had paid by taxing the peasants and extracting agricultural production...
, or tax farm.
Avariz as a category of taxes
The name "Avariz" was also used as a blanked term for cash taxes levied by central government, or avariz-i divaniye. The term later came to be used for one specific tax.Difficulties and exemptions
Occasionally the tax burden could be heavy, provoking rebellion. Some waqfWaqf
A waqf also spelled wakf formally known as wakf-alal-aulad is an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law, typically denoting a building or plot of land for Muslim religious or charitable purposes. The donated assets are held by a charitable trust...
s were founded to help communities pay their nüzül
Nüzül
-Mechanism:Nüzül was designed as a form of requisitioning from farms, to feed Ottoman armed forces; large quantities of food were needed to support Ottoman armies in the field. Flour was a major constituent in the 16th-17th century. Producers were expected to deliver nüzül to the required...
and avariz obligations each year.
The Ottoman Empire had a complex system of tax exemptions, and avariz was no exception. Various groups were exempted from avariz on the basis of lineage, public service by favoured professions, and sometimes a district's an exceptional inability to pay (for instance, if the district had already paid heavily towards other taxes, or been ravaged by warfare). The most common exemption was for villages which had been assigned guard duties.