A SHORT HISTORY OF THE BURSA

SILK INDUSTRY

(1500-1900) BY

MURAT Ç�ZAKÇA (Bogaziçi University, Istanbul)

The city of Bursa was the first capital of the Ottoman Empire, conquered from the Byzantine State in 1 326. Before the conquest of Istanbul, Bursa not only was an important center of trade between Rumeli and Anatolia but also had become one of the most important entrepots of the silk trade between Europe and Asia. Hence its popula- tion exceeded that of even Istanbul in the middle of the fifteenth century 1). Before the conquest of Istanbul, the continuous expansion of the Ottomans and the shrinking of the Byzantine State resulted in the shifting of center of the East-West trade from Byzantium to Bursa. In a parallel development the ancient silk road passing through Anatolia gained in importance. Ottomans gained control of this route after the conquest of the Karaman territories and especially Konya in 1468. It is important to note that the conquest of Istanbul the shifting of the capital, and even forced resettlement of part of the Bursa population in Istanbul did not prevent Bursa from keeping its place as one of the most important centers of trade in Anatolia. The city remained as the main entrepot of Iranian silk and was the administrative center of several Anatolian mukata'as 2). One of the most important attractions of Bursa in this early period was the security it provided to Moslem merchants. These merchants 143 could now bring their goods to practically the westernmost point in the Asian continent and could safely sell them to the agents of Italian merchants. To ease transactions and provide additional security and comfort, Ottoman Sultans, then ruling in Bursa, had built several hans with strong fortifications. These hans had large scales to weigh the silk. Public brokers (simsars) were also present to inspect transactions and to secure the government's share. Naturally strong precautions were taken to discourage the sale of silk in any place but in these hans 3). The crucial characteristic of the Ottoman silk trade in this early period consisted in reexporting or processing the Persian raw silk which arrived mainly from the Gilan area. Our knowledge on the structure of the Bursa silk industry during the fifteenth century is rather limited. We know that the industry was organized as a system of guilds. Halil Sahillioglu's latest and as yet unpublished article will no doubt fill a large gap in our knowledge 4). We learn from him that slaves constituted a considerable proportion of the total labor force in the fifteenth century Bursa silk industry and that a unique system of vertical mobility among the slaves existed- a slave could gain his freedom on the condition that he wove a certain quantity of cloth. The essentially reexporting and processing character of the Ottoman silk trade and industry changed with the Ottoman-Persian wars in the early sixteenth century. Sultan Selim I in an attempt to deprive the Persians of their most vital revenue imposed a blockade on Persian trade 5). This act had several very important consequences. On the Persian side there were two not very successful attempts to send Gilan silk across the Russian steppes and?or via the Indian Ocean to England.