The Oldest Register of the Požega Sanjak

Abstract

The oldest Turkish land-register of the Sanjak of Požega originates from 1540. In it, the area occupied until that moment, is described. The territory of the Sanjak was to spread its frontiers further, tili the fall of Virovitica in 1552.

The register is kept at the Government Archives at Istanbul, and it consists of two, most probably accidentally separated parts: TD no. 204, and TD no. 203. It has 147 pages. Besides the kanuns for the vilayet of Sremska Međurječje and Požega, it also contains the register od the Imperial and Sanjak - bey's hasses, as well as a detailed description of the population of the three largest kadiluks: Požega, Brod, and Gorjan.

So far the register has been very little used. It is important as a source for establishing the dates of the creation of Sanjaks and their first administrators, but above all because it provides invaluable data on conditions in the Sanjak during the first years of the establishment of Turkish rule in Slavonia.