The Ottoman Empire was one of the most dominant empires in the Mediterranean region, having lasted ~600 years and controlling much of the eastern and southern portions of the Sea. Albert Hourani described the Ottoman Empire as "a bureaucratic state, holding different regions within a single administrative and fiscal system".

The Ottoman Empire lasted for over six hundred years (1299–1923) and encompassed present-day Turkey, the Balkans and the Fertile Crescent. Thus the Empire included an extremely diverse population ranging from the Muslim majority (Turks, Arabs, Bosniaks, Albanians, etc.) to various minority populations, specifically Christians and Jews, whom Muslims referred to as "People of the Book". As an imperial colonial enterprise, the Ottoman system allowed some Greeks, Tatars, Italians, Albanians, Serbs, Hungarians, Georgians, Bulgarians, Ruthenians and Circassians, kul and azad, to attain high office as soldiers, viziers or members of the imperial family.

Socioeconomic divisions The Ottoman system traditionally stood on a division between four socioeconomic groups: the military, the learned, the merchants, and the peasants. Each group had its own set of skills and societal roles that came with different privileges and social statuses: while the military and the intellectual classes were rather influential in politics, the peasantry was much more disenfranchised from the central power. By the 19th century, this system had disintegrated with the progressive emergence of the ayans, a group of urban notables.

This was a class of local notables, who often had a role in governing to some degree, especially from the seventeenth century onward. Also played the role of warlords at times, appearing most often in Anatolia, Syria, and Egypt. In the mid-18th century, in Rumelia and Anatolia, this became a title for district nobles who were elected by their community to negotiate in its name and handle taxes and security.

The 19th century also saw the rise of a new political and socioeconomic class: the modern bureaucracy. In 1826, Mahmud II shut down the Janissaries, abolished the tulumbacı, and merged the Bektaşi and Nakşibendi religious orders together. From the Sultan’s point of view, that meant the loss of many supporting foundations: quickly, a new bureaucracy emerged as a symbol of Ottoman modernity, the effendis, whom could not be criticized and eventually came to assume government control.

Askeri

They were a social class made up primarily of the military and all public servants and members of their households. This class depended on the Sultan for income and as such, were not included in taxation. They were not considered to be aristocrats however, as membership depended on the Sultan's desires. The askeri held their class unless specifically dismissed by the Sultan or if they pursued a non-governmental role. Additionally, according to some sources, only non-Muslims were allowed to join this class, as a means to ensure loyalty only to the Sultan.

The soldiers and their commander belonged to a subclass called the "kul" and were considered slaves of the Sultan.

On the other hand, there was a political subclass called the "askeri kassam". Whose estates were often liable to confiscation by the Sultan.

Some sources instead divide the askeri into multiple branches: the kalemiye, the seyfiye, and the ilmiye.

The kalemiye were the scribal branch, the ilmiye focused on religious and judicial services, and the seyfiye were the military and administrative branch.

Some of the most notable roles to fall under the askeri class were people who performed: praying, preaching, scribal service, superintendency, tax and rent collection, trusteeship, couriers, falconers, guardians of bridges and passes, tent-makers, dealers of oil and butter, tent-pitchers, copper miners, rice-growers, judges, circuit judges, and city wardens, along with the sons and wives of askeri members and freed slaves.

Rayah

Alternatively spelled as "reaya". Considered to be the class that was ruled over. Made up of merchants, artisans, and peasants and were the taxed class. This group was largely Muslim, though their Christian counterparts were also placed under the same label. Ottoman officials sought to disarm this class and prevent them from achieving any sort of military status in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They were typically considered the lesser class and dubbed as non-governing.

The rayah class was largely divided by religion, with each religious group being divided into an internally autonomous community called a millet. These groups were allowed to maintain their own traditional laws and could have internal administrative organizations led by their own religious leader.

The Muslim millet was considered to be above the other millets due to their practicing of the same laws and religion as the ruling class of the empire.

Ethno-religious divisions

Muslims Muslims were granted a higher social status than other religious groups in the Ottoman Empire: they were considered “first-class subjects,” in opposition to non-Muslims who were considered “second-class subjects.” Several privileges came with the status of Muslim: many high-ranking positions were reserved for Muslims, Muslims were frequently privileged by the law, one could not be enslaved by a non-Muslim, etc. The Muslim category was a flexible one: many members of other religious groups converted to Islam in order to access certain benefits.

Even among Muslims, different groups enjoyed different levels of privilege: Turks, as the “conquering” population, enjoyed some degree of superiority over other Muslim groups, including Arabs, Kurds, Albanians, and Bosniaks who were all conquered against their will. Nevertheless, conquered groups retained a great deal of agency: for instance, Muslim Bosniaks and Albanians were involved in the governance of the empire and were a part of the Janissary units.

Non-Muslims under the Millet system Non-Muslims occupied a subordinate position within the Ottoman Empire. Christians, in particular, were derided as Giaours ("infidels"). The subordinate status of non-Muslims was codified by the Millets, a system of semi-autonomous religious communities, that persisted between the fall of Constantinople to the nineteenth century, . There were three basic Millets: the Greek, the Jewish, and the Armenian communities: though many other ethnic and religious existed, most were incorporated into and ruled by one of the three major Millets. Despite ostensibly being protected for being "people of the book", persecution of Christians within the Ottoman Empire has a long history.

Non-Muslims, notable Christians, were forced to pay disproportionately higher taxes than Muslims within the empire, including the humiliating poll-tax, which according to certain sources was a material proof of the dhimmis' subjection.Cl. Cahen in Encyclopedia_of_Islam, Jizya article Even pregnant mothers had to pay jizya on behalf of their unborn children.

There were notably three domains in which autonomy was important to non-Muslims. The first one was that of religious theory and practice: though Muslims did not directly interfere in theological matters, they still imposed religious restrictions. For example, non-Muslims religious buildings could not tower over Mosques, the availability of specific commodities such as wine, kosher meat, or communion wafer was determined at the discretion of Muslim authorities. Non-Muslims were formally prohibited from dressing like Muslims and were required to wear distinctive clothing, a policy justified on the grounds that their proper condition under Islamic law was one of "humility and abjection". Violations of such clothing restrictions could be punishable by death.

The second important domain of autonomy under the Millet system was that of administration and taxation: lay leaders, generally elected by their community, were in charge of administrative matters such as making arrangements with regards to the collection of taxes. The third domain concerned non-Muslims’ legal jurisdictions. Jews and Christians were notably allowed to adjudicate legal disputes between members of their group: in Jewish communities, rabbinical courts could rule on criminal cases.

The Millets developed internal class structures: the upper layers of this strata were composed of merchant elites residing in Istanbul as well as of the high clergy, while the lower classes were made of new type merchants and craftsmen. Ethnic and religious differences within the Millet did not matter to the central Ottoman authorities: within the Greek Millet, Romanians, Albanians, Serbs, etc. could shift from one identity to another without changing their status vis-à-vis the metropole. To the Millet authorities however, such ethnic and religious differences were important and even instrumental in highlighting divisions.

Divisions between Millets were reflected in the organization of cities such as Istanbul: until the beginning of the nineteench century, religious groups inhabitied their traditional quarters. In Istanbul, Greeks lived in Fener, Samatya, Cibal, and in villages along the Bosporus; Armenians inhabited Kumkapi and Samatya; Jews lived in Balat, Hasköy, and Kasımpaşa.

The Millet as a system of social divisions along ethno-religious lines lost its vigor throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with the rise of liberation and nationalist movements, especially in the Greek Millet. Starting in the second half of the eighteenth century, Western enlightened ideals and the French Revolution started to inspired a growing intelligentsia among the Greek Millet until the Greek War of Independence. While some historians argue such a revolt was of a nationalist nature, others have claimed that it was a religious movement eager to liberate itself from Muslim oppression rather than a rebellion driven by the will to form a nation. Following the rebellion, religious divisions were transformed as Greeks lost many of their privileges and came to be seen as a group to fear rather than as a community to respect and accommodate. The Orthodox patriarchate, though he did not participate in the uprising, was hanged; the post of dragoman (interpreter), who since the mid-seventeenth century had been reserved to Greeks, was given to a Turk.

The Conveniencia model According to historian Baki Tezcan, the millet system did not stay static over time. Drawing from Brian Catlos’s analysis of intercommunal relationships in the medieval Mediterranean as “the consequence of a series of relationships born of a perceived mutual benefit among majority and minority ethno-religious groups, reinforced by formal agreements set in law, and grounded in a mutually-conceded, if limited, legitimacy,” Tezcan explains that religious divisions functioned around “convenience” and the ability of each group to occupy administrative and economic niches in the empire’s affairs, wherein a group that performed well in its niche tasks would gain more status than another, less effective group. Around the early 18th century, the convenience model broke down such that administrative and military posts were mostly occupied by upper-middle class Muslim citizens.

Gender

Women as legal entities