Trade in Trabzon in the 19. century

462 ABSTRACT This study discusses the position and significance of Trabzon and of the Trabzon-vicinity in the Ottoman's economy, in general;and the Trabzon customs and merchants, in particular. In this study, which is restricted to the XVIII. Century; many activity branches have been discussed and researched that vary among Trabzon's and among Trabzon-vicinities' customs to merchants, the commercial background to the linen cloth manufacture, and the commercial structure to the industrial structure, etc.. In the introduction of this study;the significance of Trabzon and of the Trabzon-vicinity is given attention and the necessity to research the economical potential of this region is emphasized by pointing out the inadequacy in researches that bring up the economical function of Trabzon and of the Trabzon-vicinity. While the economical structure of Trabzon and the vicinity has been discussed in this study, the subject matters have not only been restricted within the Trabzon context, but these matter have been discussed in conjunction with other regions of the Ottoman State and the main features of the Ottoman economy have been emphasized. Accordingly, domestic and foreign factors influencing the economical structure of Trabzon have been discussed and reviewed in the first three sections of this study. In the first section;after the political, military, and administrative organizing- that appeared when Trabzon and the vicinity entered under the Ottoman's control- have been discussed, the harms that the banditry action, which was met almost at the same intensity in each of the Ottoman's regions during the XVIII. Century, imparted to the people at the relevant region and to merchants that either came from land or from sea have been considered and it is concluded that this banditry action had a negative influence on the economical life in that region. In the second section;the principles that the Ottoman's followed in economical fields such as agriculture, industry, and trade have been considered, and by emphasizing the main issues of the domestic and foreign trade, information is given on the Ottoman's economy and on the economy of the Black Sea Region that directly related Trabzon and its vicinity to the main economy. In this section, attention has been drawn on the matter that the commercial relations that occurred in the Ottomans during the XVIII. Century were focused on harbors and harbor cities such as Selanik, Izmir, and İskenderiye, which were more directly connected to the463 European ports, as a result of the developing European capitalism and that the Black Sea Trade, where Trabzon and its vicinity were connected to, were materialized in an economical structure that was close to foreign trade under the frame of the victualling system of the Ottoman State. In the third section; transportation conditions of Trabzon and the vicinity in the XVIII. Century have been discussed along with roles of harbors, roads, market places, khans, and bazaars present at the relevant region in both the regional and interregional trade. In this section, it is stated that even some disadvantages were met in land and maritime transportation as a result of the geographical conditions, trade locations such as market-places, khans, and bazaars filled successfully a significant blank in Trabzon's and the vicinities' domestic and foreign trade. The activities of the Trabzon merchants and of the merchants who came from other regions of the Ottoman State and from the Persians have been discussed in the fourth section. In this section;it is specified that the Trabzon entrepreneurs played more the role of a merchant as compared to transporters within the trade life of the Black Sea Region and that the Trabzon merchants involved in trade by reaching the shores of Istanbul, Crimea, Danube and Rumelia with historical fairs of which the İslimye Fair was the most famous one. It is seen that merchants who came from distances to Trabzon in that century came more from Anatolia by land and that they provided any kind of necessities including mostly the textile necessity that Trabzon and the vicinity required. It is explained that many commercial goods - which came to Trabzon both by land and sea- were dispatched to many regions of the Ottoman State and resold there within the XVIII. Century Trabzon Trade, and it is emphasized that Trabzon did not function as a market-place only, but also as an entrepot where many goods were stored and redistributed. In the fifth section;the State's activities such as awarding the income items such as linen cloth and candle manufacture and those related to market-places like "ihtisâb ve dellâliye", all among which the ports and customs took a primary place, to private entrepreneurs as a taxation have been discussed. In this section;it is pointed out that there was a significant growing rate in the income items connected to the Trabzon port and both to trade and manufacture, as it was the case for many of the sectors of the Ottoman State between 1730 and 1770/1780, and that there were a long-termed unproductive period and even regression periods in the activity branches related to trade and manufacture in the years except the former periods.464 As a result, it is specified that during the XVIII. Century, Trabzon had a strong trade life and attracted the trade life covering the region between the Persian and the Balkans, the Crimea and Bağdat and the Western Anatolia, thanks to its customs and merchants as well as its ancient trade culture as it was the case in the former eras.