A Study of Social Network Analysis: The Âyan of Bursa in the Late 18th Century.

A large number of researches have been conducted on the âyans who made their marks on 18th century Ottoman history. These researches have generally focused on some of the most powerful and influential âyan dynasties. However, the findings about the exact sources of âyan's influence on society and administration are still limited. This study suggests using social network analysis (SNA) in order to expand the knowledge base about âyans as a social stratum. In this study, on two Bursa court registers belonging to the late 18th century, in which âyans of Bursa were most effective, the method of social network analysis was carried out according to the debtor-creditor relation as a variable. In this paper, the results of this experiment are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]