Chiflik

Chiflik, or chiftlik (Ottoman Turkish: Çiftlik; Albanian: çiflig; Bulgarian: чифлик, chiflik; Macedonian: чифлиг, čiflig; Greek: τσιφλίκι, tsiflíki; Serbian: читлук/čitluk), is a Turkish term for a system of land management in the Ottoman Empire. Before the chiflik system the Empire used a non-hereditary form of land management called the timar system. As the Empire began to collapse, powerful military officers started to claim land from the sultan's holding allowing them to pass the land onto their sons, thus creating the chiflik system. This form of land management lasted from the 16th century until the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1919.