Forest, Bandits, and State: Some Measures Taken against the Use of Forests as Illegal Activity Areas in the Ottoman Empire (16th-18th centuries)

The territories of the Ottoman Empire included extensive forested areas. These forests provided a rich source of timber and other materials essential for the maintenance of the empire's military establishments, including the Imperial Arsenal, the Imperial Armory, and the Imperial Arsenal of Ordinance and Artillery. Furthermore, the Ottoman people utilized these forests to meet their own needs, primarily for firewood. In addition to these, which consumed a certain level of the empire's forest resources, there were also bandits who used the vast wooded areas both as a hideout and as a base for their illegal activities. Bandits would conceal themselves behind trees situated along the routes traversing forested areas, which were also used for travel and trade. Despite the efforts of the central administration to guarantee the security of these areas through the deployment of personnel to the derbend organization, their success in this endeavor was not complete. In such cases, in order to ensure road safety, the central administration took certain measures to prevent bandits from using forest as an ambush site.