Urban Society in Early Modern Istanbul

2020/12/21

The Major in Asian History in the Faculty of Letters at Keio University is distinguished by its structure, which is built on the two pillars of East Asian history and the history of the Middle East and Islamic world. Diverse historical research is conducted on the politics, economy, society, and culture of these regions.

My field of specialization is the urban social history of the early modern Ottoman Empire. Within this field, I am particularly interested in the lives of the common people, such as merchants and artisans who made up the majority of the urban population, and what kind of society they formed.

Currently, my research focuses on merchants and artisans involved with "leather," such as tanners and leather merchants, primarily in the capital city of Istanbul during the 17th and 18th centuries. I am also continuing to examine issues that have recently garnered attention, such as "charity, poor relief, and mutual aid," focusing on cases involving merchants and artisans.

Islamic court registers contain not only trial records but also all kinds of information about the city and its people, such as marriages, religious conversions, the sale and lease of goods, inheritances, commodity prices, and the distribution of shops. Through the process of deciphering and analyzing these records, I am engaged in a daily process of trial and error, exploring whether it is possible to reconstruct the society of early modern Istanbul.

In a recent study, I analyzed records concerning the estate of a tanner named Ibrahim who lived in the latter half of the 18th century. This allowed me to learn not only about his assets but also about the management of his workshop, his relationships with family and relatives, and his connections with fellow tradesmen. It can be said that the appeal of Islamic court registers lies in their ability to reveal aspects of the lives of common people that are difficult to discern from other historical sources.

Many challenges still remain in the study of merchants and artisans in early modern Istanbul. It is necessary to gather and analyze more specific information about their lives and the nature of their guilds. By tackling these challenges one by one, I hope to clarify the bigger picture of the lives of merchants and artisans and their guilds, and furthermore, the bigger picture of urban society as a whole.