Marketing sheep in the Ottoman Empire: Erzurum and its trade networks (circa 1780s-1910s)

Abstract

This paper studies the lucrative sheep trading networks connecting Erzurum with major urban centers extending from Istanbul to Aleppo and Damascus. It traces the evolution of these networks in order to show how the dynamics of the sheep trade changed from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century. In opposition to the view that Eastern Anatolia remained largely excluded from domestic and foreign markets during the capitalist integration of the Ottoman economy, it is argued that the province of Erzurum maintained and even reinforced its position in the sheep trade. While sheep exports to Istanbul had increased by the early twentieth century, there was a decline in shipments to the Syrian provinces. The paper analyzes the political, financial, techno- logical, and environmental factors that played a role in this transformation.