Osmanlıda Zahire mübaşiri olmak: Ziştovili Hacı Ali örneği (1749-1755)

A grain supervisor is an ofcial who is authorised for the collection and transportation of provisions, and resolution of all possible problems about provisions. Both in wartime and in peacetime, grain supervisors collected grains and assumed important tasks for supplying an army or a city with food. To supply Istanbul, which was the most populated city of the world, the Ottoman State, sent carefully selected supervisors to manage grain production centres. In 1749, Haji Ali of Sistova, was commissioned to ensure the transportation of grains collected in the Rumelian wharves of the Black Sea and from the coastal wharves of the Danube to Istanbul. The amount of grain being sent from these regions to Istanbul met the annual grain need of the city to a great extent. The importance attached to the wharves of the Rumelian part of the Black Sea and to the wharves of the Danube, which were vital for Istanbul, was also reected in the position of grain supervisors. Elevated from voivodeship to ambassadorship and then to governorship, Haji Ali's grain supervision, which constituted a small part of his life, will be addressed in the current study. Thus, both an unknown task performed by Haji Ali of Sistova will be revealed and also, over this example, an attempt will be made to explain the characteristics and tasks of grain supervisors and the difculties they suffered.