Michael Talbot, University of St Andrews
Kağıthane has recently become the new home of the Ottoman archives, and the area itself has a rich history. Once noted as a fashionable retreat and pleasure garden, the area around the stream was also a major centre for the manufacture of bricks, gunpowder, and other heavy duty items. One document from the Ottoman archives shows another little-known aspect of Kağıthane's industrial past, and, although it may not seem the most enthralling of topics, the hero of this story is humble mud.
The Sweet Waters of Europe, early 19th century, V&A
First, a quick word
about the document itself. Although it is undated, there are a few clues that place it in the mid-to-late-eighteenth century. The red text explains that the black text is a summary of a command (emr-i şerif) from 1079 (1668/9) from the records of the imperial divan. The official who wrote this marginalia notes that because the command was made in 1668/9, there would not be a copy of the full command in the registers of imperial orders (ahkâm defterleri). This places this document after 1742, the year in which the ahkâm defterleri were instituted. Unfortunately for our official, he was unable to see a copy of the full command at all, as it was kept in the imperial treasury.
So, at some time after 1742, our unnamed official had dug out the summary of a command from the late 1660s. This command, he explained, had prohibited Europeans (Efrenc) from exporting Kağıthane mud (Kağıthane çamuru). He argued that if a similar command were to be issued now,
it would be 'of limitless benefit to the affairs of the Sublime State', and
would 'remove the means of strength and power of the enemies of religion and
state.' This was a bold claim to make
about dirt. However, the link between mud and political power becomes clear in
the summary text of the order from 1668/9.
The mud from the Kağıthane stream provided high-quality clay, which was used in a variety of manufacturing processes, such as brick-making. The photograph below from the Abdülhamid II Photograph Collection shows the imperial brick factory in the late 1800s, probably situated very near to where mud had been collected and processed in the seventeenth century. Good quality clay was also an essential raw material in the casting of cannons for the Ottoman armed forces, and consequently of huge importance for the Ottoman state. Kağıthane mud was particularly valued, as the command notes, during major military campaigns such as the siege of Candia when artillery was in great demand.
As a result of the
industrial value of the sludge from the Kağıthane stream, it was reserved
exclusively for the use of the Istanbul foundries. However, foreign merchants
seem to have had another idea, and in 1668/9, in the final push of the siege of Candia, this had caused a major
problem:
The foundries report
that they are in want of mud, owing to French, Dutch, British, and Genovese
merchant ships coming to the Threshold of Felicity and carrying away Kağıthane
mud at night with their small boats, filling the holds of their ships, and
sending them back to Europe (Frengistan'a). Henceforth, the transportation of mud
from the said neighbourhood to the infidels is to be prevented.
It is not difficult to
imagine those crafty merchants lowering their boats into the Golden Horn and
rowing silently down the Kağıthane stream in the moonlight, furtively scooping
up shovel-loads of mud to sell on the European market. It is also easy to
imagine the anger and frustration felt by Ottoman workers and officials the following morning when they discovered this trespass on their livelihoods and the
theft of their resources.
For the Ottoman
government in the late 1660s, there was evidently a genuine concern that
this important material might be sold to their enemies, that Kağıthane mud
would be used to cast Venetian, Austrian, or Russian cannons. Given the
content, the likely context of our unknown official's request for a mud export
prohibition was in another period of military pressure, perhaps during the
difficult war with Russia between 1768-74 when the Ottomans
correctly suspected their allies such as the British of supplying the Russians with armaments and munitions.
This little document
sheds light onto a number of practices. It demonstrates the use of archived material in the early modern Ottoman state, and highlights the familiar difficulties of locating and
gaining access to the right information in those archives. Crucially, it provides evidence that European merchants were able to run a
successful industrial smuggling racket in the heart of the Ottoman capital. The huge potential strategic as well as
economic implications of this illicit activity pushed Ottoman officials to find ways to halt it. Finally, this document shows, perhaps surprisingly, that the mud from the
waters of Kağıthane could be the key to personal wealth and imperial success.
Source: BOA, İE.AS. 12/1160 (mid-late 18th century)
No comments:
Post a Comment