this issue
previous article in this issuenext article in this issue

Document Details :

Title: Commerce and Coexistence: Veneto-Ottoman Trade in the Early Mordern Era
Author(s): DURSTELER, Eric
Journal: Turcica
Volume: 34    Date: 2002   
Pages: 105-133
DOI: 10.2143/TURC.34.0.879

Abstract :
The early modern Mediterranean commercial world is often depicted as starkly divided between Muslim and Christian, who experienced little meaningful interaction. In commercial matters, it is argued that Muslim merchants rarely traveled to Christian lands, and that any trade that did exist was carried out through minority intermediaries. This essay, based on Venetian documents, provides extensive evidence of Ottoman-Muslim merchants who traveled often to Venice, and traded extensively with Venetian merchants. Indeed some of the most important traders were high government officials. While intermediaries were occasionally used, much more often trade was carried out directly. This picture of Veneto-Ottoman commerce suggests that the traditional binary picture of the early modern Mediterranean masks a more complex reality of cultural and commercial interaction.

Download article