The Sheep Tax in the Cyprus Island (1570-1603)

Abstract

The sheep Tax (adet-i-agnam or resm-i ganem) in the Ottoman Empire was collected in April or May generally. The quantity of the tax could change according to the time and place. Having conquered Cyprus, the Ottomans also collected above mentioned tax in Cyprus. It was one of the income sources of the Cyprus budget under the Ottoman rule. It is understood that there are some original sources germane to the sheep tax of Cyprus. One of them is the Cyprus budgets under the Ottoman rule and the other is the 1 Numarah Kibns Mukataa Defteri. It has not been made a comprehensive research concerning the sheep tax in Cyprus yet, using these documents. Therefore, the aim of this study is to reveal the historical documents related to the sheep tax in Cyprus in the late years of the 16th century and evaluated them. The evidence used in this study is derived principally the records of the Nicosia Kadi's court and from the Cyprus budgets in the Ottoman prime Ministry archives in Istanbul.