Ottoman textiles: a success story that did not end so well

"During the sixteenth century the Ottoman Empire had a considerable number of textile producing centres. The economic vigour and the variety of production make us wonder why textile manufacturing did not initiate an industrial revolution in this part of the globe. The work done on the ‘economic mind’ of the pre-nineteenth century Ottoman elite, as well as a variety of studies on tax-farming, have identified some of the reasons why textile producers, in spite of significant successes, proved unable to break through a certain ‘glass ceiling’. The Ottoman elite believed that supplying the market, and keeping prices low as a consequence of this, was a high priority. This was the only way to ensure military success and render public construction financially feasible. Mercantilist policies were never fully embraced, although there was concern about the outflow of bullion. Thus export was not promoted by the state: if in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Ottoman sultans were interested in the fate of those subjects who traded in foreign territories, this was probably more for political than economic reasons. Secondly, the prevalence of tax-farming and life-time tax-farms had dire consequences from an economic point of view. Tax-farmers forced craftspeople to produce in places convenient for tax collection, but these places were not necessarily conducive to the productive processes involved. In addition, tax-farmers’ activities tended to exacerbate the lack of capital in all productive branches including textiles. This had been a weakness of the Ottoman economy since the sixteenth century. A further factor affecting the destiny of textiles were the large workshops that during the eighteenth century were frequently promoted by pious foundations anxious to increase their revenues. The close proximity of the artisans working there, and frequently the common investment in costly items, tended to reinforce mutual control and make it more difficult for enterprising artisans to branch out into activities not foreseen or approved by their neighbours. Recent work on Ottoman textile production has tended to give priority to factors from within, rather than those originating outside the sultans’ realm. Future scholarship will need to integrate these studies with the work carried out on the textile industry in Europe in the early modern period."