Akıncı ( āqıncı , lit., "those who flow") is an Ottoman Turkish term that refers to the participants in pillaging raids into hostile territory, which, in the early Ottoman period, were known alternately as akın ( āqın , lit., "flood" or "flooding over") or gaza ( ghazā , a religious term meaning "holy war"). Initially, most akıncı s were tribal warriors. Towards the end of the eighth/fourteenth century, following the creation of the timar ( tīmār , military fief)-holding cavalry and court mercenary troops, they were increasingly pushed into border areas, mainly in Rumeli, where they