Agriculture and Urban Food Supply in Ottoman Çorum

Çorum’s Ottoman-era markets, guilds and housing are covered on Guilds, Bazaars and Houses in Ottoman Çorum, and the same period’s population and administration on 15th-17th Century Çorum: Population, Government and Sanjak. This page, based on the closing section of Çorum Tarihi’s (Turkish, “History of Çorum”) chapter by Suraiya Faroqhi (p. 127-132), focuses on how a growing town fed itself — Çorum’s agricultural production and its food-supply arrangements.

Production grew, but lagged behind population

Per the book, the only quantitative source for 16th-century Anatolian agricultural output is the census register (tahrir defteri), which records tithe (öşür) amounts; since the tithe rate in the Çorum region ranged from one-eighth to one-fifth depending on locality, total output can only be roughly estimated from these rates (Çorum Tarihi, p. 128). Per Huri İslamoğlu-İnan’s research, between 1520-30 and 1576 wheat production in the kaza of Çorum grew by 46 percent and barley production by 75 percent; in the kazas of Demirli Karahisar and Katar, wheat output stayed nearly flat while barley grew by 37 and 31 percent respectively. The book attributes the rise in wheat to the town’s growing population, and the rise in barley to the Ottoman central government’s steady demand for it during military campaigns (Çorum Tarihi, p. 128-129).

This growth in output, however, lagged well behind population growth, which reached 78 percent in the kaza of Çorum and over 100 percent in Demirli Karahisar and Katar over the same period. The book notes that part of this gap may reflect nomadic groups who had long lived in the region but were only newly registered once they settled, and part may reflect some census registers simply copying old tithe figures unchanged; even so, it judges a grain shortfall highly likely, and suggests that the Çorum market inspector’s occasional reluctance to send grain to Istanbul may relate to this longer-term shortfall as much as to short-term fluctuations (Çorum Tarihi, p. 129).

Compensating with fruit, vegetables and vineyards

To make up the food shortfall, Çorum’s villagers appear to have turned to more intensive forms of production: between 1520-30 and 1575, fruit and vegetable output grew by 323 percent in Çorum, 233 percent in Katar and 354 percent in Demirli Karahisar. Vineyard cultivation fell by 64 percent in the kaza of Çorum, while vineyard-tax revenue collected in Demirli Karahisar rose by over 1,300 percent; because taxes on these crops were collected in cash rather than in kind, however, it is impossible to gauge their real effect on peasant diets (Çorum Tarihi, p. 129).

The role of tax-farmers and revenue agents

Per the book, most of the grain sold in Çorum’s market came not from villagers but from officials called has emini (managers of crown-land revenue) and mültezim (tax-farmers), who collected tax revenue in bulk. Though the census registers and the surviving court register offer no direct data on this, per-village grain output is thought to have declined over the 16th century even as these officials accumulated substantial grain stocks — since the Ottoman central government generally demanded cash, not wheat, from them. It follows that the town’s growing demand for wheat chiefly benefited the has emini and mültezim, who alone could sell in bulk; timar-holding cavalrymen benefited only to a limited degree, and among villagers only the wealthiest could profit (Çorum Tarihi, p. 129-130).

The impact of the Celali rebellions on food supply

The book states that Çorum’s food supply situation was harmed by the Celali rebellions. Citing Mustafa Akdağ’s study, it notes that the townspeople of Çorum in these years resisted the general bandit-hunting inspections carried out especially by the sancakbeyi and his men, and even barred Ahmed Pasha — responsible for guarding the province of Rum while the actual beylerbeyi was away — from entering the town. The activities of the bandit Canfedaoğlu, described in detail in the era’s court register, are treated as part of this same unstable climate (Çorum Tarihi, p. 130). On the other hand, the book suggests that Çorum’s position off the main trade routes (“şahrah”) may have let it weather this turbulent period more lightly than towns such as Amasya (which declined once the court left in the 1600s) or Konya (whose covered market temporarily closed) (Çorum Tarihi, p. 130).

Conclusion: Çorum compared with other Anatolian towns

The book situates 16th-century Çorum’s development within broader trends across Central Anatolia and even the wider Mediterranean world — population growth up to around 1570-80, followed by stagnation (Çorum Tarihi, p. 130-131). Like other Anatolian towns, Çorum was cut off from the sea; although only about 170 km from Samsun, it held no commanding position on the main trade routes, a trait the book compares to Kayseri, likewise set back from the roads leading to Istanbul. Even so, the book stresses that 16th-century Anatolian towns functioning as “local market towns” could reach populations of 10,000-35,000 — substantial by the standards of the day — and that Çorum, with roughly 10,000 people, was more populous than Bulgaria’s major cities Sofia, Ruse and Vidin, and even than Jerusalem, the centre of Palestine (Çorum Tarihi, p. 131). It attributes this scale to the profits accumulated by officials who converted agricultural produce into cash for the treasury, which in turn enlivened the markets of even lower-ranking administrative centres; it also suggests that since Istanbul’s food supply was drawn mainly from eastern Rumelia, Central Anatolian towns such as Çorum may have faced comparatively lighter demands (Çorum Tarihi, p. 131-132).

Sources

• Çorum Tarihi (History of Çorum), 5th Hittite Festival Committee; ed. Çorum Municipality City Archive, 3rd ed., Çorum Municipality Cultural Publications, Çorum 2020, ISBN 978-605-84272-4-2 (Part 2: “Çorum from the Reign of Mehmed the Conqueror to Evliya Çelebi’s Travels,” by Suraiya Faroqhi), p. 127-132. https://www.corum.bel.tr/public/uploads/2026/01/corumtarihi.pdf

Frequently asked questions

How much did agricultural production grow in 16th-century Çorum?

Per the census-register data reported in Çorum Tarihi, wheat production in the kaza of Çorum grew by 46 percent and barley production by 75 percent between 1520-30 and 1576; fruit and vegetable production over the same period grew by 323 percent (Çorum Tarihi, p. 128-129).

Who mainly supplied the wheat sold in Çorum's market?

Per Çorum Tarihi, most of the grain sold in Çorum's market came not from villagers but from officials called 'has emini' and 'mültezim,' who collected tax revenue in bulk; it was these officials, more than anyone, who profited from the town's growing demand for wheat (Çorum Tarihi, p. 129-130).