Tokat foundry as an Ottoman industrial enterprise (1840-1920)

Mines are important for the national economies because of the natural resources they create. However, the ores extracted from the mines have to go through some processes to be used in industry. At the beginning of this process, the purification of ores comes first. In particular, metal ores often contain more than one metal in their bodies when extracted from the mines. The metals in the ores extracted for use in industry should be separated and purified. The purification process was carried out in the facilities called Kalhane in the Ottoman Empire. The purification process is still continuing today but the developing technology and processes vary. In the Ottoman Empire, Kalhane which purification process was carried out were active in many fields. The areas in which Kalhane operate are the saltpeter purification used for making gunpowder in the military sense and the purification processes for copper used in military weapons and equipment. In the economic field, the mint is used for gold, silver and copper. Kalhane, which make these precious metals used in the industry into usable intermediates, have become an important part of the production wheel. Many Kalhane were operated within the Ottoman Empire. These are usually saltpeter mills to provide the raw material of gunpowder, and copper mills for copper used in both the mint and trade. **bunların yerine kalhane mi yazsak bilemedim. Bir de kalhaneler diye yazılan yerlere "Kalhane" yazdım. İstersen oraları değiştir. Sen bilirsin. This study examines a smelting plant in Anatolia, which specializes in copper purification and has managed to survive for centuries, although it is not an active copper mine. It is the foundry of the Tokat. The foundry of the Tokat is an industrial facility in the Anatolian territory of the Ottoman Empire. The Foundry of the TOKAT is an important industrial facility which is connected to the Ergani Maden-i Hümâyûnu Trust and provides the purification of the copper coming from Ergani Mine to mint, copper merchants and Tokat coppersmiths. It is an important facility both in military and economic terms in terms of meeting the copper needs of the armory, shipyard and mint in Istanbul. This study examines the operation and production of an existing facility in Anatolia as a result of the Industrial Revolution and the Tanzimat Declaration declared by the Ottoman Empire, which began in Europe and rapidly began to show its effect all over the world. In this context, the production and employment power created by Tokat foundry has been examined. The production of Tokat foundry and the distribution of pure copper obtained from this production to Istanbul and tradesmen and copper tradesmen are presented in tables. The transportation stages required for raw copper from the mines to Tokat foundry and for pure copper sent to Samsun Pier were examined and transportation costs were determined. The employment potential created by the Tokat foundry and the employment potential and the effects of the work carried out by the personnel of the Tokat foundry as well as from the external works done indirectly to the kalhan were examined. The salaries of the labor force working in the calehouse were determined and the differences in the salaries received by the expert labor force were determined.