ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the evolution of the Ottoman district of Mahalle-i Mâ’mûre, one of the largest districts of Üsküdar, built in the 16th century, with particular emphasis on its changing ethnic composition. It was a quite cosmopolitan quarter, accommodating a rich religious and ethnic diversity. Muslims, Christians, Armenians, Jews, Gypsies, Tatars, and residents from newly conquered Cyprus lands constituted a quite unique urban fabric, and the region became a centre of attraction for a succession of migratory movements. The chapter shows how the social interactions among the residents of Mâ’mûre transcended ethnic divisions, religious lines, and the physical boundaries of the mahalles. While there was no single, standard neighbourhood type that could represent each mahalle that emerged across the Ottoman lands from south-eastern Europe and North Africa to the Arabian Peninsula, the neighbourhoods in the Ottoman capital and its towns shared similar features arising from traditional Ottoman urban practices and the social dynamics of the period.
