Slavery in the Ottoman Empire and its Demise 1800–1909 PDF
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SLAVERY IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND ITS DEMISE, 1800-1909 This page intentionally left blank Slavery in the Ottoman Empire and its Demise, 1800-1909 Y Hakan Erdem Assistant Professor of Hist01y Bogazi9i University, Istanbul in association with Palgrave Macmillan First published in Great Britain !996 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world This book is published in the St Antony's Series General Editor: Alex Pravda A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-1-349-39557-6 ISBN 978-0-230-37297-9(ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230372979 First published in the United States of America 1996 by ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-312-16209-2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Erdem, Y Hakan. Slavery in the Ottoman Empire and its demise, 1800-1909 I Y Hakan Erdem. p. em. includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-312-16209-2(cloth) I. Slavery-Turkey-History-19th century. 2. Turkey-History -Ottoman Empire, 1288-1918. 3. Slave-trade-Turkey-History-19th century. 4. Antislavery movements-History. I. Title. HTI238.E73 1996 306.3'62'0956'09034--dc20 96--7125 CIP © Y Hakan Erdem 1996 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1996 978-0-333-64323-5 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the tenns of any licence pem1itting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WI P 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 To Duygu This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgements ix Glossary X List of Abbreviations XV A Note on Pronunciation XVI Introduction xvii 1 Employment of Slaves in the Classical Ottoman Empire 1 The dev~irme: The emergence of the Ottoman military-governmental slave system 1 Slaves as·soldiers and administrators and their status 6 Slaves in agriculture 11 Industrial slavery 15 2 Traditional Ottoman Policies towards Slavery before the Tanzimat 18 The pencik tax as a means of market control 19 Enslavement and sale of Muslims as slaves 20 Unlawful and lawful enslavement of non-Muslim subjects 23 Employment of slaves by non-Muslims 27 Treatment of war captives 29 Illegal use of slaves and supervision of slave-dealers 33 The prohibition of the slave trade to Egypt 39 3 Means of Enslavement and Slave Acquisition in the Late Ottoman Empire: Continuation of Ottoman Slavery after 1839 43 Means of enslavement and acquisition of slaves 44 Recovery of the Ottoman slave system 55 The ethnic origins of slaves in the late Empire 58 Employment of slaves 62 4 British Policy and Ottoman Slavery 67 Was there a British attempt to abolish Ottoman slavery in 1840? 68 vii viii Contents British perceptions of the general prohibition of the African slave trade 74 Differences of opinions and consensus in the British camp 79 The role of 'Muslim public opinion' in British policy-making 85 5 Ottoman Policy during the Tanzimat Period, 1846-76 94 Abolition of the Istanbul Slave Market, 1846 95 Ottoman anti-slave trade measures until 1857 99 The general prohibition of the black slave trade, 1857 107 Ottoman measures against the internal Circassian slave trade and slavery 113 6 Ottoman Policy during the Reign of Abdiilhamid II and the Advent of the Young Turks, 1876-1909 125 Anti-slavery measures and the accession hat of Abdiilhamid, 1876 126 Renewal of the 1857 Jerman in the First Constitutional Period, 1877 128 The Anglo-Ottoman Convention for the suppression of the black slave trade, 1880 132 The draft laws of 1882 and 1883 136 The law of 1889 and the General Act of the Brussels Conference, 1890 142 The advent of the Young Turks, 1908-9 147 7 The Emancipation and Care of Slaves in the Late Ottoman Empire 152 Was manumission automatic in the late Ottoman Empire? 154 The question of fugitive slaves 160 The care of emancipated slaves 173 8 Conclusion 185 Notes 189 Bibliography 213 Index 219 Acknowledgements During the course of this study I have incurred many debts. My special thanks and gratitude go to Roger Owen for his never-failing encourage ment, interest and patience. I should like to acknowledge my debt and express my gratitude to Engin Akarh, Ali Akyildiz, Bekir Kemal Ataman, Cern Behar, Selim Deringil, Alan Duben, Giil Durmu~oglu, Marian Ellingworth, Mehmet Genr,:, Nejat Goyiinr,:, ~iikrii Hanioglu, Celia Kerslake, Metin Kunt, Giinay Kut, Ehud Toledano, Zafer Toprak and Arus Yumul for reading part or whole of the manuscript at its various stages, for leading me to data and for helping me in 'deciphering' Ottoman documents. For material support I am indebted to the Ministry of Education of Turkey, to the Committee for Modern Middle Eastern Studies, Oxford, and to the Skilliter Centre for Ottoman Studies, Newnham College, Cambridge. The staff at the Ba~bakanhk Ar§ivi in Istanbul, the Public Record Office in London, and Rhodes House, the Bodleian, the Middle East Centre and the Oriental Institute libraries, all in Oxford, were helpful and understand ing during my research. Finally, I should also like to thank to Arzu Boliikba§I, Sun a and Erdogan Erdem, Asian Kaya, and Giingor and Dogan Oner for the emo tional and moral support they have given. Y HAKAN ERDEM ix
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