Istanbul’s Population and Population Movements during the Reign of Mahmud II (1833-1837)

Abstract

After the abolition of the Janissary Corps, the Ottoman state undertook many new initiatives to keep its capital city of Istanbul under control. One of the most important of the central administration’s initiatives to maintain public order in the city was the collection of detailed information on the population and urban dynamics of Istanbul. For this reason, after the census conducted in 1829, deaths, births, settlements in and departures from Istanbul, and travels to the provinces began to be recorded monthly to track demographic changes in the population. These reports, called, were submitted to Sultan Mahmut II, who was very interested in the subject. In this study, firstly, the census methods and practices of the Ottoman Empire in the first half of the 19th century are explained in general terms. Then differences between the censuses conducted in Mahmut II’s Istanbul and those conducted throughout the rest of the empire are emphasized. Finally, information is given about the census years in the capital, and the reports of 1833, 1834, 1835, and 1837 are analysed. The population of Istanbul, which had more than 350,000 inhabitants in 1829, was around 310,000 in 1833. Between 1833 and 1835, the capital’s population increased steadily, mainly due to the massive immigration of single men who came to the city in search of work. Likely due to the plague that broke out in mid-1834, migration to the city then decreased and deaths increased, and by 1837 the capital’s population had fallen even behind that of 1833.