1875 Cadastral Survey of Istanbul

The first cadastral survey of Istanbul was conducted in 1875. The survey comprises detailed micro-level data on size, number of rooms, location, building material (i.e. wooden or masonry), building type (e.g. residence, shop, etc.), and owner’s identity for all real estate. Based on these observable characteristics, surveyors also appraised the value of each property and recorded the level of property tax accordingly. The rental price of each real property, if rented, is also available in the survey. The present dataset consists of the translations of a randomly selected 30% of all the archives. The number of observations is 6335. Exploiting the distinctive names of males and females, we appended a dummy variable indicating the gender of property owners. Using the same strategy, we also added a dummy variable showing the religious affiliation of owners. This rich dataset can be used for cliometric purposes and quantitative analysis by economic historians in myriad ways.