The Ottoman land grant system associated with cavalry service was called the timar system.
Under this arrangement, the sultan assigned the right to collect specified tax revenues from a piece of land rather than giving the holder absolute private ownership. The recipient, known as a timariot, was usually a sipahi cavalryman who served the Ottoman army with his own equipment and often brought additional armed retainers.
A timar normally produced less than 20,000 akçes in annual revenue. Larger grants were classified as zeamets, while the highest-revenue grants were hass. This hierarchy helped the state organise military obligations according to the economic value of each assignment.
The system expanded during the empire’s territorial growth and supported provincial administration without requiring the central treasury to pay every cavalryman directly. Timar holders collected revenue from peasants but were expected to protect the land and answer the sultan’s summons. Timar, zeamet, and hass were related grant categories; miri referred more broadly to state land, not the specific cavalry grant system.