People of distant countries: Slaves in the social and economic life of Trabzon in the second half of the XVIIth century

This thesis tries to investigate the social, economic and daily life of the slaves in Trabzon in the second half of the seventeenth century. This work also aims to make contribution in understanding the life in the seventeenth century Trabzon society in the light of the Trabzon court records. The thesis is in three chapters. The first chapter searches the history of slavery before the Ottoman Empire. In this connection it is attempted to establish the similarities and the diversities of the slavery in different religions, in Islam and also in the Ottoman Empire. The second chapter gives information about the ways of how the slaves are freed, the situation of free slaves in Trabzon's society, the catching of escaped slaves and what happens after that. The third chapter analyses the place of slaves in the social life of Trabzon. To do that, the court entries of marriage, divorce, adultery, rape, slander, insult, burglary, death and injury which have direct reference to slaves are examined. This chapter also evaluates the effect of slaves to the economic life of Trabzon. In this chapter further sources like estates of deceased person, sales of slaves and the sources which give the prices of the slaves are used. Finally, the owners of the slaves are analysed according to their social status.