"The state treasury requires ready cash for the payment of the standing army and the expenses of campaigns. Therefore, the right to collect taxes from certain crown lands and provinces shall be auctioned to wealthy individuals. These tax collectors, known as multazims, shall pay an advance sum to the treasury and, in return, are authorized to collect the annual taxes from the peasantry, keeping a portion for their own profit."
—Adapted from an imperial decree of the Ottoman sultan regarding the implementation of the iltizam (tax farming) system, seventeenth century.
Based on the passage, which of the following best describes the primary purpose of the Ottoman iltizam system?
- ATo establish a European-style feudal system with decentralized lord-vassal relationships.
- BTo transition the Ottoman economy to a system of unregulated free-market capitalism.
- To secure immediate cash revenue for the central government to fund state expenses such as the military.Answer
- DTo recruit Christian youth through forced labor to serve as elite soldiers in the imperial palace.
Answer
To secure immediate cash revenue for the central government to fund state expenses such as the military.
The correct answer is correct because the source document explicitly outlines that the state required "ready cash" for military expenses and campaigns, which it secured by having multazims pay an advance sum to the treasury in exchange for tax collection rights.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Land-based empires developed various taxation and revenue collection methods, such as the Ottoman iltizam (tax farming) system, to generate the liquid capital necessary to fund centralized bureaucracies and standing militaries.