UNKNOWN PAGES OF BATUMI HISTORY

(Review of Prof. Zaza Shashikadze's book − “Two Ottoman Defters About Batumi”, Tbilisi, 2024)

Abstract

In 2024, the publishing house “Universal” published a solid book − “Two Ottoman Defters about Batumi” (translation from Turkish, introduction, research and comments were added by Zaza Shashikadze). The study was conducted with the support of the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia. Along with photocopies of the two Ottoman Defters, the researcher included in the study their digitized Ottoman version and a direct Georgian translation. In this way, he left the possibility, should certain questions arise, to check proper names or any fragments of text given in the translation, both in the original document and in its digital versions.

The book is quite large, contains 551 A4 pages, and consists of two parts: 1. “Extensive Defter of Batumi Liva“ (Georgian translation, Ottoman text, and photos); 2. “Short Defter of Batumi Liva“ (Georgian translation, Ottoman text and photos). It also contains an introduction, a review of Defters, an English summary, and definitions of terms.

The introduction briefly discusses the history of Batumi and the region before the Ottoman rule, according to Georgian and Turkish sources. Regarding defters, these documents, compiled for tax purposes, contain a variety of information and cover aspects such as the socioeconomic, political, demographic, and religious situation in a region during a given period.

The geographical area of the Extensive Defter compiled in 1704 includes present-day Batumi, 14 villages under the Batumi Liva, and three nahiyas, remaining still within the borders of the Republic of Turkey. It is obvious that Prof. Z. Shashikadze has done invaluable work in the decipherment of Georgian proper names (toponyms and anthroponyms) and has successfully overcome not only the difficult Ottoman (consonant) handwriting, but also the absence of diacritical marks in it, which, due to the inconsistency with Georgian phonetics, makes the Georgian correspondence even more multivariate.

The Short Defter of Batumi Liva complements the information given in the Extensive one and also provides us with different information. It was compiled in 1696; however, the last entry was made in 1864. These two Defters contain invaluable information for the history of our city, its surroundings, and the whole of Georgia.