The french capi̇tal in The Ottoman Empire (1838-1914)

From the beginning of the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire had shown resistance to the economic superiority of the European states. The expansion of European capital began to disrupt the traditional Ottoman economic structure and accelerated the replacement of European goods in the Ottoman market for domestic products. In the middle of the century, the Western countries, which were enriched by capital accumulation policies, quickly turned to monopoly capitalism, exported their capital to countries like the Ottoman Empire and started to make investments. During this period, it has seen that the development of the capital investments in the Ottoman Empire accelerated due to the trade agreements with Western countries in this century, in addition to the capitulations it had previously given to various states French capital, which was the main theme of our subject, was opened to the world thanks to the economic transformation that took place after the 1789 revolution. It is understood that the French commercial bourgeoisie, which showed a rapid economic development thanks to the central bank and private enterprises established during this period, made a significant amount of capital investment in the Ottoman Empire due to the intense competition with other western countries, especially England. This French-based capital mobility, which was primarily based on debt and government bond trading, was later transformed into direct investments in banking, insurance, rail, port, urban services and mining. In general, our thesis on the historical formation, development and effects of French capital in the Ottoman Empire in the period starting with the application of the Baltalimanı Trade Agreement of 1838 and lasting until the First World War, in particular the French capital companies established in the Ottoman Empire and the sectoral activities of these companies in detail as the purpose of review. Keywords: French capital, French companies, Ottoman economy, capitulations, commercial agreements.