uring the later centuries of Ottoman rule, the administration's heightened interest in the economic exploitation of its provinces led to the introduction of new taxes. These new taxes placed a considerable strain on the people, especially in the most fertile agricultural areas of northern and central Greece. The increased burden contributed to economic collapse, and cleared the way for massive shifts in economic and fiscal practice.
Thus, after the mid-18th century, local officials in Macedonia and Thessalia imposed extortionate tax increases on the farmers, who were powerless to react. Gradually, more and more land fell into the hands of officials, and the farmers went from being subjects of the sultan to tenant farmers of these new overlords. The taxes imposed on the large estates (tsifliks) further eroded the weakened economic power of the inhabitants.