Page 103 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

1404 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

Ottoman Conquest
of Constantinople

In the extracts below from his History of Mehmed
the Conqueror, the Greek historian Kritovoulos leaders, who feared a loss of influence, and their patrons
recounts the Ottoman sultan Mehmed’s victory in among the European states.
Constantinople in 1453.
The Economy
As for the great City of Constantine, raised to a
The Ottoman empire remained populated mainly by cul-
great height of glory and dominion and wealth
tivators who raised a wide variety of crops for subsis-
in its own times, overshadowing to an infinite de-
tence and sale. Many not only farmed but also manu-
gree all the cities around it, renowned for its
factured handmade textiles and other products, again
glory, wealth, authority, power, and greatness,
both for personal use and the market. Cereals always
and all its other qualities, it thus came to its end.
topped the list of crops that they grew. Following ancient
The Sultan Mehmed, when he had carefully
regional precedents, the sultan theoretically owned the
viewed the City and all its contents, went back
vast majority of land and allowed others to grow crops
to the camp and divided the spoils. First he took
and raise animals. In practice, generally, these land users
the customary toll of the spoils for himself.
enjoyed security of tenure and stayed on the land for gen-
Then also, as prizes from all the rest, he chose
erations. Sharecropping was widespread, and during the
out beautiful virgins and those of the best fam-
nineteenth century, at least, was the source of most crops
ilies, and the handsomest boys, some of whom
that were sold in the marketplace. Most cultivators were
he even bought from the soldiers. He also chose
small landholders; large estates were comparatively
some of the distinguished men who, he was
unusual. Slave labor was common for domestic work but
informed, were above the rest in family and
very rare in agriculture. Commercialization of agriculture
intelligence and valor...
enjoyed considerable development in the eighteenth and
For the Sultan was overcome with pity for the
nineteenth centuries in order to meet mounting foreign
men and their misfortune, as he saw from what
demand and, in the latter period, the needs of an increas-
good circumstances they had fallen into such
ing number of Ottoman city dwellers. Ottoman manu-
great predicaments. And he had good intentions
facturing, for its part, remained largely the domain of
towards them, even though his ill will soon over-
small-scale hand producers, although there was some
came these plans.
mechanization in the late period. Ottoman manufactur-
Source: Riggs, C. T. (Trans.). (1954). Kritovoulos: History of Mehmed the Con- ers lost most of their existing foreign markets between
queror. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
1700 and 1800 because of protectionist policies over-
seas and because of the increasing efficiency of European
manufacturers, itself based on a combination of the
have greater weight than those from Christian or Jewish more ruthless exploitation of labor and mounting mech-
sources. In addition to this religious law, the state rou- anization. During the nineteenth century, however, rug
tinely passed its own, secular ordinances (always with the making and silk spinning operations, staffed largely with
assertion that such rules adhered to Islamic principles). female labor working outside the home, emerged as the
In the nineteenth century, when a flood of ordinances most important of the new export industries. Through-
and regulations marked the presence of an expanding out, Ottoman manufacturers retained the important
bureaucratic state, even the lip service frequently fell domestic market for their wares. Important technological
away in favor of scientific management. Moreover, as breakthroughs occurred in transport and communication
part of its nineteenth-century reform agenda, the state during the second half of the nineteenth century. Steam
sought to replace the religious courts with secular ones, replaced sail on the seas. Railroads emerged; but these
an effort strongly opposed by many Ottoman Christian were mainly in the Balkan provinces that later were lost.