References
Freely, John. Istanbul the Imperial City. London: Penguin Books, 1998.
Garnett, Lucy Mary Jane. Turkey of the Ottomans. New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1915.
Pardoe, Julia. Beauties of the Bosphorus. London: Colburn Publishers, 1839.
Our first visit was to the charshees, or, as Europeans for some inexplicable reason have the habit of calling them, the “bazars”—the word bazar literally signifying market. …The great attraction of these establishments is undeniably their vast extent, …
The charshees are like a little commercial town, roofed in; each street being appropriated to one particular trade or calling; and presenting relative degrees of attraction and luxury, from the diamond-merchants counter to the cushions of the shawl and fur-menders. The Beizensteen is wonderfully rich in jewels, but in order to witness the display of these you must be, or be likely to become, a purchaser, as only a few, and those of comparatively small value, are exposed in the glass cases which ornament the counters. Nearly the whole of the jewelers are Armenians, as well as the money-changers, who transact business in their immediate vicinity. Indeed, all the steady commerce on a great scale in the capital may be said to be, with very slight exceptions, in the hands of the Armenians, who have the true, patient, plodding, calculating spirit of trade; while the wider speculations of hazardous and ambitious enterprise are grasped with activity by the more daring and adventurous Greeks; and hence arises the fact, for which it is at first sight difficult to account, that the most wealthy and the most needy of the merchants of Istamboul are alike of that nation: while you rarely see an Armenian either limited in his needs, or obtrusive in his style.
In the street of embroiderers, whose stalls make a very gay appearance, being hung all over with tobacco-bags, purses, and coiffures, wrought in gold and silver, we purchased a couple of richly-worked handkerchiefs, used by the ladies of the country for binding up the hair after the bath, and which are embroidered with a taste and skill truly admirable.
Thence, we drove to the shoe bazar, where slippers worked with seedpearls and silver and gold thread, upon velvets of every shade and colour, make a very handsome and tempting appearance; and among these are ranged circular looking-glasses, of which the frames, backs, and handles are similarly ornamented. The scent-dealers next claimed our attention, and their quarter is indeed a miniature embodiment of “Araby the Blessed,” for the atmosphere is one cloud of perfume. … No less luxurious was the atmosphere of the space bazar, with its pyramids of cloves, its piles of cinnamon, and its bags of mace-and, by the porcelain dealers allured us into their neighborhood with their dazzling display, comprising every variety of ancient and modern china; silks, velvets, Broussa, satins, and gold gauze, in their turn, invited us in another direction—and, in short, I left the charshees with aching eyes, and a very confused impression of this great mart of luxury and expence.
Source: Julia Pardoe, The City of the Sultan and Domestic Manners of the Turks in 1836 (London: Henry Colburn, Publisher, 1838), 34–37.
20. TRADE GUILDS IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
In the Ottoman Empire the craftsmen were organized into guilds. The manufacturers, shopkeepers, and small traders who were organized under the guild system were known as esnaf (plural of sinf). Trade guilds already existed in Constantinople at the time of the Ottoman conquest in 1453. The number of guilds increased significantly as the city was rebuilt and repopulated under Mehmed II and his successors. In the 17th century the Ottoman writer Evliya Çelebi (Chelebi) listed more than 1,000 guilds in the capital. He also wrote that there were nearly 80,000 craftsmen in Istanbul alone, working in more than 23,000 shops and workshops and distributed among 1,100 different professional groups. Three centuries later a European traveler estimated the number of distinct trades and crafts in Istanbul at 1,640. Guilds were organized principally to manufacture consumer goods in demand by the population, regulate prices and competition, and facilitate the relationship between various trades and the government. In addition, guilds provided assistance to craftsmen to open shops, offered loans to the sick and ailing, and assumed the costs of funerals and burials when their members died.
The guilds were not organized as capitalist enterprises to maximize their profit margins in an ever-expanding, free market economy. The Ottoman central government frequently intervened in the daily affairs of the guilds. With the participation and support of guild masters, Ottoman state officials fixed the number of guilds in every city and disallowed the establishment of new shops and workplaces. The guilds manufactured primarily for the population of their city and its neighboring towns and villages. The excerpt below from Turkey of the Ottomans by the British folklorist and traveler Lucy Mary Jane Garnett describes the status of trade guilds in the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century.
The Esnaf [Esnaf is the plural of sinf and does not require an “s” at the end], or Trade Guilds, constitute an important feature of urban industrial life, especially at Constantinople, where representatives of all the various trades, crafts, and callings practised in the Empire are to be found. Each Esnaf has in every quarter of the city and suburbs one or more lonjas, or lodges, presided over by several officers called respectively according to their rank, Sheikhs, Naibs, Oustas, and Kiayas, or Priors, Superintendents, and Inspectors, who are annually elected by the members from among its own master craftsmen, these officers being formally recognised by the Government, which holds them responsible for the good behaviour of their fellow-guildsmen. The internal organisation of the Esnafs remains practically the same as it was in earlier centuries, its members, as in the industrial guilds of Europe generally, falling into the three grades of oustas or masters, kalfas, or journeymen, and tchiraks, or apprentices. The lines of demarcation are strongly marked between these three grades. A kalfa owes respect and obedience to his ousta, and apprentices are required to be duly submissive to both. A tchirak desiring admission to the guild of his craft is recommended by the ousta under whom he has served his time to the Prior of his lodge, his formal admission being attended with traditional ceremonies and the payment of certain fees. The sinf of each craft and calling has its own peculiar traditional laws and usages, as well as its special kanoun or written constitution, all of which are rigidly observed; and the social relations existing among the members of the various guilds affords in many instances curious and interesting illustrations of the manners and mode of life of the industrial classes of the country. These corporations existed in Byzantine times, according to some historians even prior to the reign of Justinian. At the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople thirty-five Guilds were already established in the city, among whom were the boatmen, fishermen, and cordwainers. A large number of new Esnaf, however, came into existence during the following three centuries, and, according to Dr. Paspati, as many as 1, 640 distinct trades, crafts, and callings existed at one time as separate corporations. This is probably an exaggerated estimate. In any case, the number of guilds in the capital greatly diminished during the last century. Investigations made with reference to this subject by Sarakiotis Bey in 1874 showed that the names of only 120 Esnaf were then entered in the municipal registers.
Source: Lucy Mary Jane Garnett, Turkey of the Ottomans (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1915), 157–159.
21. HĀNS (KHĀNS) OR INNS IN THE LATE OTTOMAN PERIOD
Hān or khān referred to a staging-post and a lodging station located on a main road, a highway, or a major trade route. A khān or a hān could also serve as a warehouse in a town or a city. The highway hān offered safe lodging and protection for travelers and their possessions in regions where nomads and roaming bandits threatened security. The hān provided services indispensable for safe and successful overland commerce and was essential in regions where food and water were scarce.
Aside from public baths and coffeehouses, the urban hāns provided open and free space for social interaction among a variety of people from diverse ethnic and social backgrounds. Muslims, Chris
tians, and Jews; travelers, pilgrims, and Sufi wanderers; and merchants and traders from various Ottoman provinces and distant lands, such as Central Asia, India, Iran, and North Africa, converged at these inns, where they interacted without interference from any governmental or religious authority. The excerpt below from Turkey of the Ottomans by the British folklorist and traveler Lucy Mary Jane Garnett describes the role and functions of khāns or inns in the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century.
Although hotels are now to be found not only in the European but also in the native quarters of Turkish cities, and inns and lodging-houses in the quarters frequented by foreign sailors, such conveniences for travellers are little used by the trading classes of the native population, who still, as of yore, betake themselves to those peculiarly Oriental establishments termed Khans, of which the capital contains quite a number. Not a few of these ancient edifices, which are situated for the most part in Stamboul in close proximity to the bazaars, owe their origin to the munificence of the pious, this provision for the accommodation of the wayfarer being included in the list of “good works” required of Moslems. And to this category belongs, among others, the “Khan of the Validé” adjoining the mosque of that name, founded by the mother of Mohammed IV, who during her son’s minority acted as Regent of the Empire. The architecture of this vast caravanserai, which is considered as a sort of model for such edifices, is quite conventual in character. A great arched doorway gives access to a quadrangle containing a tree-shaded fountain and surrounded by stables for the horses and camels, and storehouses for the merchandise of the traders frequenting the Khan. Above rise three superimposed cloistered galleries on which open all the cell-like apartments. These primitive lodgings contain no furniture, as all Oriental travellers carry with them their own bedding, rugs, and utensils, and the charge made for accommodation is correspondingly small. The wants of the guests in the shape of comestibles are easily supplied at the cookshop and coffee stall on the premises, or in the numerous establishments of the kind with which the neighbourhood abounds. In this and the other large Khans at Stamboul, as also at Smyrna, Salonika and elsewhere, may be found at all times a motley throng of strangers, Moslem, Christian, and Jew—pilgrims, and traders from not only every part of the Ottoman Empire, but also from Central Asia and Northern Africa, and presenting a collection of racial types hardly perhaps to be met with elsewhere.
Source: Lucy Mary Jane Garnett, Turkey of the Ottomans (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1915), 166–167.
22. TURKISH BATHS IN THE LATE OTTOMAN PERIOD
Like all Muslim societies, the Ottomans emphasized cleanliness. Regardless of its size, every public bathhouse consisted of three sections: the outer hall, the cooling room, and the bath itself. The public baths were open from eight in the morning to sunset, with men and women patronizing them on alternate days. In some neighborhoods there were separate bathhouses for men and women. For women the bathhouse served as the best place to meet and discuss the latest news, to arrange marriages, and to enjoy long conversations with friends and family. Social custom strictly prohibited women from patronizing coffeehouses and other venues available to men. For women, the bathhouse became an escape from ordinary routine and offered a space to socialize with friends while drinking coffee and being entertained by female performers. In Turkey of the Ottomans the British folklorist and traveler Lucy Mary Jane Garnett described the role of public bathhouses in the early twentieth century.
Among Moslems at least, personal cleanliness certainly comes next to godliness, being strictly enjoined by their sacred law; and to the regular and careful ablutions requisite for the maintenance of the condition of legal purity—in which certain religious acts may alone be performed—as also no doubt to their habitual temperance, is probably due the comparative freedom of the Turks from many of the ailments which afflict their Christian and Jewish neighbours. In very large towns are to be found several hammans, as Turkish baths are termed, and in the capital they are very numerous. A few of these—the mineral baths at Broussa, for instance, and some of the more ancient in Stamboul—present fine examples of this species of architecture. They are resorted to by all classes of Moslems, and in a more or less degree by all the races of the country, the charges being extremely moderate; while for the use of the very poor there are a number of minor baths attached to mosques and other pious foundations at which they may perform their ablutions gratuitously. These establishments have always constituted a popular rendezvous for the Turkish section of the population, a sort of club where news and gossip could be heard and exchanged.
Source: Lucy Mary Jane Garnett, Turkey of the Ottomans (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1915), 167–168.
APPENDIX
RULERS
SULTANS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
Osman I
1290–1326
Orhan
1326–1362
Murad I
1362–1389
Bayezid I
1389–1402
Interregnum
1402–1413
Mehmed I
1413–1421
Murad II
1421–1444
Mehmed II
1444–1446
Murad II
1446–1451
Mehmed II
1451–1481
Bayezid II
1481–1512
Selim I
1512–1520
Süleyman I
1520–1566
Selim II
1566–1574
Murad III
1574–1595
Mehmed III
1595–1603
Ahmed I
1603–1617
Mustafa I
1617–1618
Osman II
1618–1622
Mustafa I
1622–1623
Murad IV
1623–1640
Ibrahim
1640–1648
Mehmed IV
1648–1687
Süleyman II
1687–1691
Ahmed II
1691–1695
Mustafa II
1695–1703
Ahmed III
1703–1730
Mahmud I
1730–1754
Osman III
1754–1757
Mustafa III
1757–1774
Abdülhamid I
1774–1789
Selim III
1789–1807
Mustafa IV
1807–1808
Mahmud II
1808–1839
Abdülmecid (Abdülmejid)
1839–1861
Abdülaziz
1861–1876
Murad V
1876
Abdülhamid II
1876–1909
Mehmed V Reşād (Reshād)
1909–1918
Mehmed VI (Vahideddin)
1918–1922
Abdülmecid II
1922–1924 (served only as the caliph)
GLOSSARY OF
SELECTED TERMS
acemi oglān (ajemi oglān): Young Christian boys recruited through devșirme for service in the palace.
āğā: Master, chief, head; title of the commander of the janissary corps.
āğā (āghā) of janissaries: The commander or chief officer of the janissary corps.
āhi: Mystic fraternity.
ākçe (ākche): A silver coin; the Ottoman unit of account.
ākin: A raid.
ākinci (akinji): A raider; an irregular soldier used as a raider.
ālim: A learned man of religion; an Islamic legal scholar.
Anatolia: Asia Minor, corresponding with the territory of present-day Turkey.
Aq Qoyunlu (Ak Koyunlu): White Sheep Turkmens, whose leader, Uzun Hassan (1466–1478), ruled Iran before the rise of the Safavid dynasty.
askeri: Military; Ottoman ruling class.
āyān: A local notable; autonomous local
leader, especially in the Ottoman Balkans.
bābā: Father; holy man; a leader in the Bektaşi (Bektashi) Sufi order.
Bāb-i Āli: Sublime Porte.
bedestān: The section of a covered bazaar designated for luxury goods.
bey: Honorary title; a prince or ruler in Anatolia in pre-Ottoman and early Ottoman times; governor.
beylerbey: Bey of the beys or governor-general in early Ottoman times.
beylerbeyilik: A greater province governed by a beylerbey.
beylik: A principality; region of Anatolia ruled by a bey.
birun: Outer service; the outer section of the palace.
caliph: The title for the religious leader of the Sunni Muslim community.
cāmi (jāmi): A mosque.
capitulations: Agreements with European states that offered privileges such as reduction in customs duties.
caravansaray: A hostel created to protect merchant caravans.
celāli (jelāli): Anatolian revolts against the central government in the 16th century.
cizye (jizye): A poll tax paid by non-Muslims (zimmis).
çārşi (chārshi): A market.
çāvuş (chāvush): A courier; an official charged with executing orders.
çelebi (chelebi): A title of honor and respect for individuals from the elite classes. Also, the title for the head of a religious or mystical order.
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