Four Years of Sarajevo: The Picture of Sarajevo Sanjak Drawn by its Expences

Abstract

This article is about the expenses of “Sarajevo” Sanjak, which is the center of the Bosnian Province. These expenses are recorded in the Financial Expense Notebook (ML. MSF. d) at the Ottoman Archives. ML. MSF. d. is one of the rich records of the archive. These notebooks include the salaries of employees of administrative and military positions in the Ottoman finances and local expenditure items such as subsidy and constructions. Therefore, they are important data records in understanding the cost and financing of administrative units, institutional structures and activities. In the article, four expense books related to the Saray Sanjak dated Rumi 1277, 1278, 1279, 1280 (Gregorian 1861-65) are used. The article has two aims: One, to analyze the size of the financial/administrative organization in Sarajevo, and second, to determine “state capacity” in Sarajevo. In the article, firstly, the registration order of expense books is discussed. Then, the expenditure items in each of the notebooks are analyzed and data sets are obtained. It then focuses on the Sarajevo sanjak scenery that these datasets reveal. Subsequently, the visibility of the “state” in the Sarajevo sanjak is determined. In the conclusion of the article, the general characteristics of the provincial accounting system are determined on the axis of Tanzimat's claim of financial centralization and particularly Sarajevo Sanjak.