The Role of Zawiya Foundations in the Settlement of Erzurum City in the Early Periods of Ottoman Administration

It is known that the Erzurum citadel was built by the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II in the 5th century. However, recent studies have revealed that the site of the castle contained structures dating back to the Late Chalcolithic Age and particularly to the Urartian period. Before the Ottoman rule, the region was devastated by the Akkoyunlu-Karakoyunlu wars, the Battle of Otlukbeli, and the Safavid efforts to fill the political vacuum left by the Akkoyunlu withdrawal, as well as Georgian pressure. These conflicts caused significant destruction and led to the depopulation of the city and its provinces. It is known that the city came under Ottoman rule around 1517-1518, on the return of Yavuz Sultan Selim from the Chaldiran campaign. Erzurum was listed as twenty-seven neighbourhoods in the first Ottoman records It is noteworthy that twelve of these twenty-seven neighbourhoods are named zawiyahs, two are named after sheikhs, and three after mosques, masjids, and madrasas. In the pre-Ottoman and post-Ottoman period, it is seen that foundations undertook important tasks in terms of settlement activities in the region.