1261/1845 Dated the Harput Kefalet Defteri (Indemnity Register) and According to the Registers of This Defter Harput City in the Middles of XIXth Century

Indemnity is a widely used system both in official business and daily life in the Ottoman Empire. In Indemnity system, which is used both on commodities and individuals liability of a business or an earning given to a guarantor to secure the rights. The Indemnity register of Harput City, which is fairly a population census, is 138 pages in total with 25 blank pages. The registry was written in format of mutual indemnities for the people of the each neighbourhood. Districts, Medreses and Craftsmen are the three different sections of the register. In our work, firstly, writing style of the registers is examined. Then, each of the records are examined to find districts of the 19th century Harput city, demographic formation, medreses with students, baths, inns, all varieties of craftsmen and their numbers in order to make an assessment.