The book consists of ten chapters that are based mainly on new sources. The chapters discuss the economic activities of Jews and non-Jews in Constantinople and Smyrna during the long eighteenth century (1700-1820). The chapters also contain information relating to Salonica. The primary material for the volume was the Levant Company's official correspondence exchanged between its administration and employees, political authorities in England and the Sublime Porte. This work is based also on archival research of Jewish sources, mainly the Responsa literature, in order to understand the various topics under discussion. Jews frequently appear in these studies due to their place in local and international trade and because of the close ties between Jewish brokers and European merchants. The ten chapters of the book are based on undisclosed documentation and deal mainly with the Jews of Constantinople and secondarily also with the Jews of Smyrna, with slight reference also to the Jews of Salonica. The purpose of the research is to point out the deep involvement of the Jews in these cities in trade and money lending, and to study the connections of Jewish brokers, merchants, and Sarrafs in the above cities with the British merchants in the period under discussion.

Künye

İÇİNDEKİLER

Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................  7

A List of Hebrew Terms ...............................................................................................  9

Notes on Teminology, Currency Dimensions and Rates ........................  11

The Jewish Communities of Constantinople,
Smyrna, and Salonica, 1700-1820.................................................................. 14

Introduction .......................................................................................................................  25

Chapter 1: The Activity of British Chancellors and Arbitrators in
Settling Disputes Among Foreign Merchants and
Jewish Merchants in Constantinople in the Eighteenth and
Nineteenth Centuries ............................................................................................  37

Chapter 2: Jewish Brokers in English Firms in Constantinople,
Salonica and Smyrna in the Eighteenth and
Nineteenth Centuries ............................................................................................  79

Chapter 3: Bankruptcies of European and Jewish Merchants and
Brokers in Constantinople, Smyrna and Salonica during the
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries in Light of the
Responsa Literature ............................................................................................  143

Chapter 4: Bankruptcies of British and Jewish Merchants and of
Jewish Brokers in Constantinople and Smyrna in the
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centures According to
Archival Sources .................................................................................................  157

Chapter 5: Jews in British Trade between Malta and
Constantinople during the Napoleonic Wars .........................................  201

Chapter 6: Banking in Constantinople, Salonica and Smyrna in the
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries ........................................................  225

Chapter 7: Leon Gabai and his Involvement in Supplying Food
to the British Army in Egypt, and his Economic Ties with the
British Consulate in Smyrna in the Early Nineteenth Century .....  251

Chapter 8: Public and Economic Activities of the Hatim Family:
Aspects of the History of the Leadership and the Elite in
 Nineteenth Century Constantinople and Jerusalem ..........................  273

Chapter 9: The Ketubahof Jamila Asseo and the Will of Isaac Asseo
as Sources Revealing Economic and Social Aspects of the
Jewish Family and Economic Life in Constantinople during the
Eighteenth Century .............................................................................................  297

Chapter 10: Wills of British Merchants in Constantinople in the
First Quarter of the Eighteenth Century as a Source
Indicating Jewish Involvement in their Businesses ............................  315

Bibliography ..........................................................................................................  329

INDEX ...............................................................................................................................  361

INDEX .................................................................................................................................  245