an accounting system used between 14th and 19th centuries in the ...

At first the income of the Divan members used to be provided disorderly by
the revenues, and it is seen that since the reign of the ruler, Murad the first, Has
were assigned to the members.
Until the year 1362, Anatolia was the only province, but in the same year
Edirne was captured and then Rumelia province was founded. Thus it is known
that the number of the provinces rose to two (Akgündüz, 1990, 255-266).
Beylerbeyi used to govern these provinces in the Ottoman State.
İsmail Hakkı Uzunçarşılı states that the financial structure of Ottoman State
at the outset was taken from Ilhanian State which affected Seljuk State
(Uzunçarşılı, 1978). Uzunçarşılı also expresses that taxes were paid to Ilhanian
State while the Ottoman State was being founded (Güvemli, 1995, 276).
It is known that the siyakat writing and the numbers used in the recordings
of the accounting passed not only to Seljuk State but also to Ottoman State from
Ilhanian State and were used in Ottoman State till the mids of 19 th century.
Uzunçarşılı claims that the siyakat writings used for centuries in the financial
system of Ilhanian State, Seljuk State and Ottoman State was for making the
financial information impossible to be known by the public avoiding cheating.
Since Seljuk State existed in 13 th century, the idea that the siyakat writing
and the numbers must have been used in this century must also be accepted.
However, it is hard to say the same thing for the Merdiven (Stairs) method.
Because there is no document about the Merdiven (Stairs) method.
Uzunçarşılı also tells that in the foundation course of the Ottoman State
some idioms such as Ruznamce, Muhassıl, Muhtesip were used in State
Accounting which were all the same idioms used in Ilhanlı State.
In the foundation course of the Ottoman State, taking the financial
organization from Ilhanlı State and using it almost in the same style appeared to be
necessity of the policy they used in the diplomatic and military areas.
The primary accounting notebooks and documents about Ottoman State’s
existing economic and financial information dates back to 15 th century. They are
originally all about Bursa. For many years in the past, Bursa was a significant
residental and commercial centre on the route of Silk Road. There is no doubt that,
in Bursa, as being an international trade center in this century there were some
accounting notebooks and recordings which were used to follow the revenues and
the payments and commodity shopping made by tradesmen from various kinds of
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