Christopher Clay

The origins of modern banking in the Levant: the branch network of the Imperial Ottoman Bank, 1890-1914

Historically, the development of modern banking has been an important component of economic change, but it has not always been so clear whether it has been a factor in the genesis of growth or a response to and a consequence of it. In the case of the Ottoman Empire, corporate banks—wholly or partly financed with Western capital—had established themselves in strength in Istanbul after the Crimean War, especially in the decade 1863–72 when no less than eight opened there. All, however, concentrated to varying degrees on meeting the financial needs of the government at a time when the Porte was borrowing almost continuously, both short-term and long-term, a fact that explains the eclipse of several of them around the time of the bankruptcy of 1875.

Property Settlements, Financial Provision for the Family, and Sale of Land by the Greater Landowners 1660-1790

English landed society after the Restoration, and especially after the Glorious Revolution, has an historical reputation for stability, and even if this has sometimes been exaggerated by those who have commented upon it, it is clearly merited if comparison is made with the century before 1640. Possession of a great estate undoubtedly gave the aristocratic families of the age a massive economic strength, and the period is generally portrayed as one in which the ownership of property tended to pass increasingly into their hands. So perhaps it did, although any measurement is not, and may never be, possible. Yet it is certain that there remained an extremely active land market, and no contemporary observers of the land market whose correspondence has yet been studied ever complained that there was any shortage of property for sale. Moreover an examination of the title deeds of any estate built up at this time will reveal that the supply of land for sale came not only from the lesser squires and yeoman farmers, to whom the economic climate and fiscal exactions of much of this period were notoriously unkind, nor yet only from town dwellers who had inherited country estates in which they had no real interest. The substantial gentry and great landed magnates, too, are frequently found selling land, often in very considerable quantities. It is not the intention of this article to argue that, contrary to all other appearance, this is evidence that in any sense the greater proprietors were a “declining” class, for clearly they were not.

The Bank Notes of the Imperial Ottoman Bank, 1863-1876

During the middle and later decades of the nineteenth century successive generations of Ottoman statesmen made a sustained effort to transform the traditional-style Islamic empire, responsibility for which they had inherited, into a modern state. The difficulties they faced were enormous and, as is well known, ultimately proved insurmountable, so that what was left of the their territories finally disintegrated in the decade following the revolution of 1908. However, if there was one problem above all others to which could be ascribed the failure in turn of the Tanzimat, Hamidian, and Young Turk reformers, it was the financial weakness of the central government. Partly because of the inadequate tax base provided by an overwhelmingly agricultural economy, partly because of an inadequate administrative machine (especially in respect of tax collection and the control of expenditure), and partly because of the high level of military expenditure necessitated by constant external and internal threats to its integrity, the nineteenth century Ottoman state never had enough money, and from this one overwhelming fact derived a host of other woes.

The Fertile Crescent, 1800-1914: A Documentary Economic History.

This is the first systematic economic history of the Fertile Crescent throughout the nineteenth century, a region encompassing what is now Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and a small part of Turkey. Charles Issawi, an authority on the Middle East, has compiled and edited a comprehensive selection of documents from sources in English and seven other languages (all translated), the majority published here for the first time. His own substantive chapter introductions and the 154 selections cover all aspects of nineteenth century economic life in the region: social life and organization, trade, transport, and public and private finance.

Women in Nineteenth-Century Egypt.

List of illustrations Acknowledgments List of abbreviations Note on transliteration and dates Introduction 1. Ploughs and shares: women, agricultural production, and property 2. Spindles and songs: women in urban occupations 3. Private and public life: women and the growth of the State 4. Women, resistance, and repression 5. The practice of slavery: women as property Conclusion Appendix Notes Glossary Bibliography Index.

State, Private Enterprise, and Economic Change in Egypt, 1918-1952.

The Description for this book, State, Private Enterprise and Economic Change in Egypt, 1918-1952, will be forthcoming.