Segregation oder gemeinschaftliches Zusammenleben? Vom Umgang mit Vielfalt in der osmanischen Stadt

Abstract

The diversity of inhabitants was characteristic for all Ottoman cities. Religious affiliation was one of the most important variables that traditionally not only determined the tax status of Ottoman subjects. Also in urban governance all the officially recognised religious communities usually were represented. However, the static picture of the Ottoman city as divided by administratively defined religious communities has to be balanced. Inhabitants frequently communicated across religious boundaries and established various forms of living together. Migrants to the city formed identities that related to their social status or the regions where they came from. Thus they are another example of the rich differentiations among inhabitants of Ottoman cities. In the nineteenth century, diversity was rising when new cultural forms of differentiation were added to the existing ones. In the bigger centres especially in port cities we see a social differentiation, but also the emergence of new national communities.