TRENDEFRAtlas of the Sultans · Glossary
Term · Society
Also known as: raiyyet
The tax-paying, governed population, as opposed to the ruling military class.
Ottoman society was broadly divided into two parts: the tax-exempt military class in state service, and the tax-paying reaya engaged in farming, trade and crafts. All the tax-paying people, Muslim or non-Muslim, were reaya; in the 19th century the word was also used for the non-Muslim subjects who paid tribute to the Ottomans.
Source: TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, article “REÂY” (in Turkish); text condensed for the atlas.