Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T06:34:47.987Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

International and Domestic Maritime Trade in the Ottoman Empire during the 18th Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Daniel Panzac
Daniel Panzac
Affiliation:
Centre National De La Recherche Scientidique Aix-En-Provence, France
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A glance at a map shows what an important role the sea played in the vast empire of the Ottomans in the 18th century, linking as it did the three continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa that made up the Old World. The Ottoman Empire dominated not only the eastern Mediterranean but also the major part of the southern shore of the western Mediterranean, the Black Sea—a “Turkish lake” until the 1780s—the Red Sea, and part of the Arab/Persian Gulf.Geography gave the sea a decisive role in the trade that took place in the Ottoman Empire both internationally and domestically.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , May 1992 , pp. 189 - 206
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Charles, Carrière, Négociants marseillais au XVIIIe siècle, 2 vols. (Marseilles: Institut historique de Provence, 1973);Google ScholarRalph, Davis, Aleppo and Devonshire Square (London: Macmillan, 1967);Google ScholarPaul, Masson, Histoire du commerce français dans le Levant au XVIIIe siècle (Paris: Hachette, 1911);Google ScholarRobert, Paris, Histoire du commerce de Marseille, vol. 5, Le Levant (Marseilles: Presses Universitairede France, 1957);Google ScholarNicolas, Svoronos, Le commerce de Salonique au XVIIIe siècle (Paris, 1956);Google ScholarWood, A.C, History of the Levant Company (Oxford: Barnes and Noble, 1935).Google Scholar

2 Katsumi, Fukasawa, Toilerie et commerce du Levant (Marseilles: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1987), PP. 39–45.Google Scholar

3 The figures given concerning trade in the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century come from French archives. They are presented in the money of account in use in France at that time: the livre toumois (It), which officially became the franc during the French Revolution while retaining the same value. From 1726 its parity with the pound sterling remained stable for the whole century on the basis of £1 sterling to 25 livres tournois.

4 National archives, A. N. Paris, F12 549–50, quoted by Fukasawa, , Toilerie, p. 41.Google Scholar

5 John, Carswell, “The Armenians and East–West Trade through Persia in the XVIIIth century,” Sociétés et compagnies de commerce en Orient et dans l'océan Indien, Actes du 8e C.I.H.M. (Paris, 1970), pp. 481–86;Google ScholarFemer, R.W, “The Armenians and the East India Company in Persia in the Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries,” Economic Historic Review, 26 (1973), 38–62.Google Scholar

6 Masson, , Commerce du Levant, p. 543.Google Scholar

7 Kütükoèlu, M, “Osmanli gümrük Kayitari,” Osmanli Araştirmalari, 1 (1980), 219–34.Google Scholar

8 Paris, , Le Levant, Pp. 506–8.Google Scholar

9 Ralph, Davis, “English Imports from the Middle East 1580–1780,” in Cook, M.A, ed., Studies in the Economic History in the Middle East (London, 1970), PP. 193–206.Google Scholar

10 Dalsar, F, Türk sanayi ve ticaret tarihinde Bursa'da ipekcilik (Istanbul, 1970);Google ScholarMehmet, Genç, “Osmanli maliyesinde Malikhâne sistemi,” in Okyar, O, ed., Türkiye iktisat tarihi semineri (Ankara, 1973), pp. 231–96.Google Scholar

11 Archives of the Chamber of Commerce of Marseilles, A.C.C.M., 1, 27–8.

12 Paris, , Le Levant, pp. 557–64.Google Scholar

13 Mehmet, Genç, “A Study of the Feasibility of Using Eighteenth-Century Ottoman inancial Records as an Indicator of Economic Activity,” in Islamoèlu-Inan, H, ed., The Ottoman Empire and the World-Economy (Cambridge, Mass., 1987), pp. 345–73.Google Scholar

14 Paris, , Le Levant, pp. 569–77.Google Scholar

15 Svoronos, , Salonique, pp. 319–20.Google Scholar

16 A N. Paris, A. E. Bl 1066–69.

17 Figures for Alexandria: A. N. Paris, A. E. B3 276; for Salonika, , Svoronos, , Salonique, pp. 329–30;Google Scholar for Smyrna, , Elena, Frangakis-Syrett, “The Commerce of Smyrna in the Eighteenth Century, 1700– 1820” (Ph.D. diss., City University of New York, 1987), appendix C.Google Scholar

18 Trader's professional and everyday life is evoked by many authors, particularly by Davis, Aleppo; Masson, Commerce du Levant; Svoronos, Salonique; Wood, Levant Company.

19 Ali, Ihsan Baèis, Osmanli ticaretinde gayri muslimler (Ankara, 1983).Google Scholar

20 Michel, Morineau, “Naissance d'une domination. Marchands européens, marchands et marchés du Levant aux XVIIIe et XIXe siècles,” Cahiers de la Méditerranée (Nice, 1976), PP. 144–84.Google Scholar

21 André, Raymond, Artisans et commerçanrs au Caire au XV1IIe siècle (Damascus: Institut francais, 1973), PP. 129–37.Google Scholar

22 Michel, Tuchscherer, “Activités des Turcs dans le commerce de la mer Rouge aux XVIIIe siècle” in Panzac, D, ed., Les villes de l'Empire Ottoman: activités et sociétés (Aix-en-Province: C.N.R.S., 1991), pp. 32–64.Google Scholar

23 Lüfti, Güçer, “XVIII. yüzyil ortalaranda stanbulun iaşesi için lüzumlu hububatin temini meselesi,” stanbul üniversitesi Iktisat Fakülitesi Mecmuasi, 11 (1949–1950), 397–464 16.Google Scholar

24 stanbul Başbakanlik Arşivi, Cevdet tasnifi, ktisat nc 1474. (Paris: Onnik Jamgocyan, in press).

25 Daniel, Panzac, “L'escale de Chio: un observatoire privilégié de l'activité maritime en mer Egée au XVIIIe siècle,” Histoire, Economie, Sociétd, 4 (1985), 541–61.Google Scholar

26 A N. Paris, A. E. Bl 953.

27 Ali, Zouari, “Les relations commerciales entre Sfax et le Levant aux XVIIIe et XIXe siècles” (thesis, University of Aix-en-Provence, 1977), P. 239.Google Scholar

28 A N. Paris, A. E. B3 277.

29 A N. Paris, A. E. BI 114.

30 The registers of “deeds drawn up in the chancellery” of the French consulates are generally conserved in the Archives des Affaires étrangères (A.A.E.), in Nantes in the series of repatriated archives. Each consulate or post has its own number. Tunis: 678 (1678–91)–745 (1830–31); Istanbul: 36–50; Tripoli of Barbary: 43–48; Saida: 20–52; Canea: 1–13. There are two exceptions: Algiers (Archives d'Outre-Mer, Aix-en-Provence) and Alexandria (Archives de Ia Marine, Toulon).

31 The Venetian contracts are archived in the Archivio di Stato di Venezia (A.S.V.): Istanbul, the Bailo to Costantinopoli series, B263–65; Cyprus, repatriated archives, Cipro B 1–5; Tunis, Archives nationales, Paris, private Archives 134, Nyssen collection, Case 1. Of Dutch origin, Nyssen lived in Tunis 1780–1820 and operated the consulates at that time for Venice, Ragusa, and the empire.

32 The Ragusan contracts are not in Dubrovnik but elsewhere. Istanbul, A.S.V. Bailo to Costantinopoh, B511–14; Methoni, A.A.E., Nantes A.R. Patras, vol. 23; Tunis, A.N., Paris, A.P. 134, Nyssen collection, Cases 3 and 4.

33 The English contracts are conserved in the Public Record Office (P.R.O.), Chancery Lane, Chancery Registers, SP 185–90.

34 The only imperial and Austrian contracts found to this day–those from Tunis–are in the Archives nationales, Paris, A.P. 134, Nyssen collection, Cases 10 and 11.

35 The Swedish contracts are conserved in the Riksarkivet in Stockholm in the kansliböcker of the Swedish consulates.

36 Daniel, Panzac, “Négociants ottomans et activité maritime à Istanbul a la fin du XVIIIe siècle,” in Mélanges Professeur Robert Mantran (Zaghouan: Ceromah. 1988), pp. 187–99.Google Scholar

37 Idem, “Négociants ottomans et capitaines français: la caravane maritime en Crète au XVIIIe siècle,” in L'Empire ottoman, la République de Turquie et la France (Istanbul/Paris, 1986), pp. 99–118.Google Scholar

38 Idem, “Aifréteurs ottomans et capitaines francais a Alexandrie: la caravane maritime en Méditerranée au milieu du XVIIIe siècle,” Revue de l'Occident musulman et de la Méditerranée, 34 (1982), 23–38.Google Scholar

39 Idem, , “Le commerce maritime àag Alger au XVIIIe siàcle,” paper presented at the first congress of the Association francaise d'études sur le monde arabe et musulman. Aix-en-Provence, 1 July 1986.Google Scholar

40 Based on estimates supplied by the different authors quoted in the essay and on my own research, the figures here are approximate and are given only as an indication.

41 Raymond, , Artisans, p. 193.Google Scholar

42 Daniel, Panzac, “Commerce et commerçants des ports du Liban Sud et de Palestine 1756–1787,” Revue du Monde musulman et de la Méditerranée, 55–56 (1990), 75–93.Google Scholar

43 Fernand, Braudel, Civilisation matérielle, économie et capitalisme XVe–XVIIIe siècle (Paris: Armand Cohn, 1979),Google Scholar vol. 1, Le temps du monde, pp. 402–16.Google Scholar

44 Leon, F.B, “The Greek Merchant Marine 1453–1850,” in Papadopoulos, S.A, ed., The Greek Merchant Marine (Athens, 1972), pp. 13–14.Google Scholar

45 In 1772, while the Russian fleet blockaded the Dardanelles, famine threatened Istanbul. At the request of the Ottoman government, more than sixty French ships and nine English ships undertook the transport of wheat from Macedonia to Istanbul. A. N. Paris, A. E. BI 442 and P.R.O. London, SP 185.

46 The Venetian sequin, bunduqi, was worth 452 akçe in 1741 and 480 in 1770. It rose to 540 akçe in 1780, 660 in 1789, and 900 in 1796, that is a fall in value of the sequin of 4 percent in 29 years (1740–70), and of 87 percent in 26 years (1770–96). Raymond, , Artisans, pp. 40–52.Google Scholar

47 Rebuffat, F et Courdurié, M, Marseille et le négoce monétaire international 1786–1789 (Marseilles, 1966), pp. 158–60.Google Scholar

48 Halil, I.nalcik, “Osmanli pamuklu pazarl, Hindistan ve Ingiltere: pazar rekabetinde emek maliyetinm rolü,” Orta doàu Teknik üniversitesi, Gelişme Dergisi (Ankara, 1981), pp. 1–66.Google Scholar