Foundations for the future šeher (town) and capital of Bosnian Sanjak, and later pashalik, were laid by Isa – beg Ishaković. This is the year when Vakufnama of Isa – beg Ishaković was published, which is the most important document for studying the establishment of Sarajevo, and it is usually called its birth certificate. This document shows that Sarajevo had the status of kasaba, or a small town, which required a mosque, a settlement surrounding the mosque and a square, or čaršija, and one market day a week.
In the Ottoman period, Sarajevo had two main parts: mahalas (residential areas) and čaršija – market, an area where economic activities were concentrated. The need for a wide range of products necessary for functioning of an urban centre incited a more serious development of crafts. First information on crafts in Sarajevo appeared less than three decades after the foundation of the town, in 1489, when the census of Bosnian Sanjak was completed. Different artisans and crafters surely existed in this region before, but the arrival of Ottomans, who had already had a developed urban culture and civilisation, and established guild organisations, laid foundations for the development of crafts and čaršija itself.