Coercion and mediation: centralization and sedentarization of tribes in the Ottoman Empire

Abstract

Known as the Tanzimat reforms, reorganization of provincial administration included the sedentarization of semi-nomadic tribes in various regions of the Ottoman Empire. In the province of Ankara, religiously and ethnically diverse tribes were sedentarized between 1839 and 1869. The cases in this article show that top down and bottom up state strategies can be employed together depending on the transformative process of state–social/tribal group interactions.2 The earlier statetribe interactions led to the recognition of the internal dynamics of tribes in reformulating centralization policies. The essay studies four tribes which varied in geographical concentration and hierarchical organization. Findings show that geographically bounded and hierarchical tribes were sedentarized by mediating with tribal authorities. In contrast, geographically scattered and non-hierarchical tribes confronted coercion, use of security forces and military troops.