This volume examines the monetary history of a large empire located at the crossroads of intercontinental trade from the fourteenth century until the end of World War I. It covers all regions of the empire from the Balkans through Anatolia, Syria, Egypt and the Gulf to the Maghrib. The implications of monetary developments for social and political history are also discussed throughout the volume. This is an important and pathbreaking book by one of the most distinguished economic historians in the field.
Contents
List of maps, graphs and tables; List of illustrations; Preface; Acknowledgments; Note on transliteration; 1. Introduction; 2. Trade and money at the origins; 3. Interventionism and debasements as policy; 4. The emerging monetary system; 5. Credit and finance; 6. Money and empire; 7. The price revolution in the Near East revisited; 8. Debasement and disintegration; 9. In the absence of domestic currency; 10. The new Kurus; 11. Linkages with the periphery; 12. The great debasement; 13. From bimetallism to the “limping gold standard”; 14. Conclusions; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.
Reviews
"Sevket Pamuk...has written an excellent survey of the coinage and economic history of the Ottoman Empire from the reign of Mehmed II...to 1924. It should have wide appeal to numismatists, historians, and students of economics...This is an important book, one that is highly recommended to all who are interested in the monetary history of the Ottoman Empire." James E. Seaver, History
"For Ottoman economic historians, this book provided the brightest fireworks of the year 2000. Pamuk has published the first chronologically and spatially comprehensive history of the Ottoman monetary system, with complete time series for the carious coin types. He has also contributed significantly to many debates in economic history...unite in hailing this book as the start of a new era in the study of Ottoman economic history." Journal of Interdisciplinary History
"...a well-structured, easy-to-read reference work, an excellent summary of the available scholarship that, one hopes, will generate new research in the Ottoman archives. It should be a recommended reading for all students interested in the economic history of the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and the Balkans during the Ottoman period." Middle East Studies Association Bulletin
"The book is bound to become the standard reference on Ottoman monetary policy as well as a key source of data and insight into Ottoman economic history in general...well organized and enjoyable to read. Written in an unpretentious style using minimal academic jargon, it should be accessible to a wide range of readers beyond Ottomanists and general economic historians." International Journal of Turkish Studies
"The book synthesizes a huge amount of previous scholarship and should remain the foundational text for the subject for the forseeable future." Religious Studies Review
"This is a splendid work of synthesis, making use of decades of scholarship in economic and monetary history." The Historian
"The book's complex approach to the problems under study together with its comprehensible and remarkably readable style makes it accesible to a wide audience of historians, economists and other social scientists. With its numerous data and innovative interpretations, as well as the construction of time series for the standards of the different Ottoman currencies, this excellent study is indeispensable to all future research in Ottoman economic history." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
"[Pamuk's] probing analysis of monetary factors throws new light on the development of the Empire, not least in revealing the strengths and not simply the weaknesses of the Ottoman administration and economic policy. The work is a major contribution to the literature and should be essential reading, both for economic historians concerned with the Ottoman Empire and for historians interested in the wider relations of the Empire with Europe and the Orient." Business History Review
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