MONEY FOUNDATIONS IN TRABZON (1702-1732)

Foundations have undertaken important functions in the Ottoman Empire in order to ensure regular and continuous socio-economic services for the benefit of society. In Ottoman social life, foundations made valuable contributions by providing services in many areas such as urbanism, education, culture, religious services, social services and settlement that the public could not reach. Cash foundations, which are an important part of the Ottoman foundation system, are the institutions that generate income by operating the cash money, which is their capital, in accordance with certain procedures and principles. Cash foundations, which are also referred to as waqf-ı nukud in Ottoman archival documents, started in the XVI. It has been popular since the middle of the century. Money waqfs have found an application area in the Ottoman Empire for about 400 years with their unique methods on the axis of Ottoman waqf experience. The most important function of cash foundations has been to provide loans, financing and cash support in areas that are economically needed. Cash foundations contributed not only to the financing needed by the market in the Ottoman Empire, but also to the execution of the social services needed by the society. Fundamentally, the operation of cash foundations has been to generate income by lending or renting their capital with certain interest (interest) rates to those in need. These foundations have provided support in areas such as education services, salary payments, repair of foundation works, lighting of religious buildings and urban planning services with the income they have earned. This study has been prepared on the basis of the charter records of the Ottoman period Trabzon city between the years 1702 and 1732 and selected from these endowments and foundation records. It has been tried to see which areas the money foundations established in this period contributed to in the context of the foundation-city relationship in Trabzon. Evaluations were made about the procedures and principles taken into account in the establishment of Trabzon cash foundations and the methods followed when establishing cash foundations. It has been tried to be explained according to the documents about the remuneration methods of Trabzon money foundations. In the study, it is discussed at which rate of return the capital of cash foundations is operated. In addition, it has been focused on which expenditure items the incomes of money foundations have been spent on. Information about the names, social status and gender of the founders of cash foundations in Trabzon is included. In this process, cash foundations in Trabzon, urban planning, repair of foundation works, religious services, wage payments to officials performing educational services and contributions to those in need of cash support were analyzed.