# Defter

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Type of tax register and land cadastre in the Ottoman Empire

"Daftar" redirects here. For the village in Xinjiang, China, see [Dafdar](/source/Dafdar).

 A page from an Ottoman defter from the year 1455

A ***defter*** was a type of tax register and land [cadastre](/source/Cadastre) in the [Ottoman Empire](/source/Ottoman_Empire).[1]

## Etymology

The term is derived from Greek *diphthera* διφθέρα, literally 'processed animal skin, leather, fur', meaning a book, having pages of goat [parchment](/source/Parchment)[2] used along with papyrus as paper in Ancient Greece, borrowed into [Arabic](/source/Arabic_language) as دفتر*:* *daftar*, meaning a register or a notebook.

## Description

The information collected could vary, but *tahrir defterleri* typically included details of villages, dwellings, household heads (adult males and widows), ethnicity/religion (because these could affect tax liabilities/exemptions), and land use.[3] The defter-i hakâni was a land registry, also used for tax purposes.[4] Each town had a defter and typically an officiator or someone in an administrative role to determine whether the information should be recorded. The officiator was usually some kind of learned man who had knowledge of state regulations. The defter was used to record family interactions such as marriage and inheritance.[5] These records are useful for historians because such information allows for a more in-depth understanding of land ownership among Ottomans. This is particularly helpful when attempting to study the daily affairs of Ottoman citizens.

Some Ottoman officials responsible for these tax registries were known as *[defterdars](/source/Defterdar)*.

## Daftars in India

Records of this kind are known as *daftars* in Northern [India](/source/India) as well, for instance the *[Peshwa](/source/Peshwa)'s daftar* of [Pune](/source/Pune).[6]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Suleiman, Yasir (2016). "Glossary". *Being Palestinian : personal reflections on Palestinian identity in the diaspora*. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 368. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-7486-3403-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7486-3403-3). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [963672141](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/963672141).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Wünsch, *Διφθέρα*. In: *Realencyclopaedie des Classischen Alterthums*, vol. V,1, col.1157–1158

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Cosgel (2004). ["Ottoman Tax Registers (Tahrir Defterleri)"](http://digitalcommons.uconn.edu/econ_wpapers/200247/). *Historical Methods*. **37** (2): 87–100. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.3200/HMTS.37.2.87-102](https://doi.org/10.3200%2FHMTS.37.2.87-102). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [18492628](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:18492628). Retrieved 1 November 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Barnes (1987). *An introduction to religious foundations in the Ottoman Empire*. Brill. p. 151. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-90-04-08652-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-90-04-08652-4).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Cleveland, W. L. (2004). A history of the modern Middle East. Boulder, Colo: Westview Press.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** [Govind Sakharam Sardesai](/source/Govind_Sakharam_Sardesai) (Ed.): *Selections from the Peshwa Daftar*. Bombay : Gov. Central Press 19XX

## External links

Look up ***[defter](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/defter)*** in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

- [Publications of Turkey's Directorate of State Archives](https://www.devletarsivleri.gov.tr/Sayfalar/Yayinlar/Yayinlar.aspx)

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