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Timar was a form of land tenure in Ottoman Empire, consisting in grant of lands or revenues by the Ottoman Sultan to an individual in compensation for his services, especially military services. The timar system was introduced by Osman I who granted land tenure to his troops. Later this system was expanded from Murad I for his Sipahi.

The Saljuq state, prior to the rise of the Ottoman state in the 14th century, utilized timars in an effort to implement provincial governors, who were also made subordinate chiefs in the military regime. In this pre-Ottoman period, timars were used with other tactics, such as building caravansaries, in an effort to sedentarize nomadic groups.^[1] The Ottoman state thus took on this timar system when conquering Anatolia, and it represented just one of several institutions apparent in the Ottoman empire derived from the Saljuq state.^[2]

As the Ottoman empire came into disarray due to problems asserting central government control during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Ottomans needed a way to reassert its military might. Timars of Ottoman cavalry were enlarged and turned over to a smaller number of owners, with a longer tenure. Thus, authority in provincial areas turned to police authority as local administrations dissolved, and timars were converted into tax-farms or iqta. This conversion of timars into tax-farms proved to be the first step to growing provincial control in the Ottoman empire, as economic decline in the empire gave these stronger provincial governors the chance to assert power.^[3]

The timar-holder acted as an agent of the central Ottoman government in supervising the possession, transfer, and rental of lands within his territory and collecting tax revenue, in return for military service. A timar was not necessarily made up of contiguous property, but could consist of property scattered among different villages.

A timar- holder is a timariot.

• Suraiya Faroqhi, Halıl İnalcik, Donald Quataert, An economic and social history of the Ottoman Empire Vol I, 1300 - 1600 (Cambridge 1994)
• Encyclopædia Britannica entry on timar

1. ^ Lapidus, Ira M. A History of Islamic Societies. Cambridge University: 2002. page 249
2. ^ Lapidus, 258
3. ^ Lapidus, 277

• Fiefdom

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