Zachs 2006 Commerce Under Bashir II

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COMMERCE AND MERCHANTS UNDER AMR BAR II: FROM MARKET TOWN TO COMMERCIAL CENTRE Author(s): FRUMA ZACHS Source: Oriente Moderno, Nuova serie, Anno 25 (86), Nr. 1, THE OTTOMANS AND TRADE (2006),

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FRUMA ZACHS (HAIFA UNIVERSITY)

COMMERCE AND MERCHANTS UNDER AM R BAS R II: FROM MARKET TOWN TO COMMERCIAL CENTRE1

Agreat deal of the research that was previously conducted on the economic influence of western penetration into the Ottoman empire during the 19th

century has focused upon urban centres or port cities, such as Izmir, Alexan

dretta, Alexandria and Beirut.2 Several of these studies emphasised that local economic growth was due to the interconnections of the local market with the international market. However, very little research has been conducted on mar

ket towns, or in other words, on peripheral markets and their influence on local economic development. Important examples relating to the region of Syria3 are the works of Alixa Naff on Zahle, Leila Fawaz on Zahle and Deir al-Qamar and

finally the work of Beshara Doumani on Nablus.4 The point of departure of this article is Beshara Doumani's thesis that, due

to indigenous developments, the local economic network in the region of Syria was ripe for accelerated trade with Europe.5 In addition, it will rely on Fawaz's thesis, articulated in her book Merchants and Migrants in Nineteenth-Century

1 - This article is part of ongoing research on Mount Lebanon under the rule of Am r Bas r II, which will constitute part of a chapter in a forthcoming book. The article introduces some pre

liminary conclusions from this research. I would like to thank Professor Butrus Abu-Manneh

for reading an earlier version of this article and for his helpful remarks and Professor Gad Gil

bar for his assistance in issues of Ottoman economics.

2 - For example see, Leila Fawaz, Merchants and Migrants in Nineteenth Century Beirut, Cam

bridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1983; Elena Frangakis-Syrett, The Commerce of

Smyrna in the Eighteenth Century, 1700-1820, Athens, Centre for Asia Minor Studies, 1992; Edhem Eldem, Daniel Goffman and Bruce Masters, The Ottoman City between East and West,

Aleppo, Izmir, and Istanbul, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1999.

3 - By using the term "Syrian region" I am referring to the region that geographically includes

the three Ottoman provinces of Aleppo, Sidon and Damascus that in the 19th century covered

more or less the same area as today's Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel/Palestine.

4 - Alixa Naff, A Social History of Zahle, the Principal Market Town in Nineteenth Century Lebanon, Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, 2 vols., 1972; Leila Fawaz, "Zahla and

Dayr al-Qamar - two market towns of Mount Lebanon during the Civil War of 1860", in N.

Shehadi and D.H. Milles (eds.), Lebanon: A History of Conflict and Consensus, London, I.B.

Tauris, 1988, p. 49-63; Beshara Doumani, Rediscovering Palestine, Merchants and Peasants in

Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1995.

5 - Doumani, Rediscovering Palestine, Introduction (especially p. 5), p. 128.

OM, XXV n.s. (LXXXVI), 1, 2006, p. 51-63 Istituto per l'Oriente C. A. Nallino - Roma


52 FRUMAZACHS

Beirut, that: Beiruts success cannot be explained away simply by pointing to the city's position in the world market. Its site on the Mediterranean may ex

plain its growth, but the particulars of that growth lie in its links with the Syrian hinterland .6

The article will further elaborate on these works by applying some of their

arguments regarding economic and social issues to the reign of Am r Bas r II, ruler of Mount Lebanon between 1788-1840. Bas r was a local Muslim ruler from the Sih b house who had apparently converted to Christianity toward the end of the 18th century.7 Concentration on this period and its events will shed additional light on the development of Beirut, which, from approximately the second half of the 19th century, became an economic centre for the entire re

gion of Syria. The article will emphasise that the economic developments in the Mountain and later in Beirut took place in two stages, resulting in the emer

gence of a predominantly Christian middle stratum in the region. The first

stage, and the focus of this article, is Am r Bas r's period.8 The second stage took

place in Beirut, mainly from the second half of the 19 th century. Furthermore, the article will show how local commerce in the Mountain, es

pecially in Zahle and Deir al-Qamar, which was conducted between the Moun tain and the Syrian hinterland, acted as a catalyst that later helped to establish a

wider economic network connecting the Mountain, Beirut, and Europe. In this

regard, two questions will be examined and taken into account. The first con cerns the local economic and social developments in the Syrian interior during the period of Bas r II and how they affected Beirut later on when it became in terwoven with world economy. The second question concerns the relationship between centre and periphery, i.e. the economic role of the periphery (in our case Mount Lebanon) in shaping the centre (Beirut).

The Period of Am r Bas r II (1788-1840)

Two important processes took place during Bas r li's rule of Mount Lebanon, which lasted for more than half a century and which was marked by economic

prosperity, cultural revival and political change. The first was the establishment of an indigenous economic network throughout the Syrian interior. The second was the appearance of initial stages in the development of a Christian middle

6 - Fawaz, Merchants and Migrants, p. 3. See also, Leila Fawaz, "The city and the mountain: Beirut's political radius in the 19th century as revealed in the crisis of 1860", Middle Eastern

Studies, XVI (1984), p. 489. 7 - I.F. Harik, Politics and Change in a Traditional Society, Lebanon 1711-1845, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1968, p. 155-160.

8 - For further details on Am r Bas r see Asad Rustum, Bas r bayna al-sult n wa al-caziz, 1804-1841, Bayr t, Maktabat al-G micah al-Lubn niyyah, 1966; Gabriel Enkiri, Aux origines du Liban contemporain: le r gne de Bechir II, Beirut, Minist re de l'Information, 1973; Salim Hatt r al-Dahd h, "al-Am r Bas r al-kab r al-macr f bi-l-malt ," al-Masriq, XII (1924), p. 566 577, 696-702; Rustum B z, Mudakkir t Rustum B z, Bayr t, Mans r t al-G micah al-Lubn

-

niyyah, 1955; W.R. Polk, The Opening of South Lebanon, 1788-1840, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1963, p. 83-106.


COMMERCE AND MERCHANTS 53

stratum in the Mountain. It was also of significant importance that Bash* himself became a powerful ruler in the region of Syria. In fact, the vali of Sidon, to whom Bas r owed allegiance, was dependent on Bas r's ability to raise an army and to collect taxes, even from people living outside the boundaries of his formal rule.9

Under Sih b rule, Mount Lebanon was typified by what can be termed as a

"pseudo-feudal"10 social structure, based on a tax-farming system, the muq -

tacah.n In general, the Mountain's amir was selected by the muqdtacgis (land owners) in the Mountain and was appointed by the vali of Sidon in exchange for annual fixed taxes (m r ). These muq tacgis included amirs and acy ns and constituted a type of traditional elite.

The amir had no right of authority over his subjects or the muq tacgi. If he had any business with a subject, he had to settle it through his muq tacgi. Yet the status of the amir regarding the muq tacgis was first among equals. Also, the amir who was a kind of supervising tax-farmer, granted the muq tacgis the right to collect taxes from their subjects

- the fall hs, who cultivated the lands and were the majority of the population. After collecting the taxes the muq tacgis withheld their share and handed the rest to the amir. The latter handed the taxes over to the vali of Sidon. Thus, this "traditional" agrarian society of the Moun tain had two leading groups, the landowners and the land cultivators, and no so cial mobility existed between them.12 This social structure began to change dur

ing the period of Am r Bas r II. In order to consolidate most of the power in his own hands, Bas r had al

ready, from the very onset of his rule, striven to limit Mount Lebanon's so-called "feudal" system by initially undermining the power of the Druze muqatacgisy

who were larger in numbers and wealthier than the Christian muq tacgis. In

many cases he confiscated their property and exiled them. At the same time, he

supported and encouraged a rising Christian middle stratum, which was already engaged in trading, especially in silk. The nascent "state institutions"

as well as

the security and stability, which Bas r enforced served this stratum. It is important to emphasise that since the 17th century, silk gradually be

came the main product of Mount Lebanon, and that both Christians and Druze

9 - See for more details, A. Haydar al-Sih b, Lubn n ftcabdal-Umar 3 al-Sih biyyin, Vol. III,

edited by A. Rustum and A. Bust n , Bayr t, al-Matbacah al-K t likiyyah, 1933, p. 556-560; Fruma Zachs, "Mikhail Mish qa

- the first historian of modern Syria", British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, XXVIII (2001), p. 74-76.

10 - The term "pseudo-feudalism" aids in avoiding the term "feudalism" which is problematic for Middle Eastern society. Nevertheless, the form of government in Mount Lebanon had sev

eral elements similar to the fundamentals of the classic pattern of the feudal regime in western

Europe during the Middle Ages. 11 - As Harik wrote the concept of iqt

c in Middle Eastern history has generally been used

interchangeably with that of iltiz m, more or less in the sense of the tax-farming system preva lent in the Ottoman Empire . See, Harik, Politics and Change, p. 37.

12 - For further details on the political system of the Emirate see Harik, Politics and Change,

p. 37-73.


54 FRUMAZACHS

began to accumulate wealth by dealing in it.13 Nevertheless, it was Bas r who further encouraged and supported his people, especially the Christians, to deal with this product. In fact, Am r Bas r was well aware of the potential of the silk trade and of this growing social stratum, and knew how to use these develop

ments in order to further strengthen the Mountain's economic status, as well as

his own.

In other words, Am r Bas r's period as well as the institutions of the Emirate, which began developing even prior to his time, served as a catalyst for economic

prosperity in the Mountain, which had already been set in motion. Christian merchants who dealt in the growing silk trade were subsequently destined to be come leading figures in the Mountain. Under the rule of Bas r, the emerging Christian social stratum further expanded and began dealing in silk, grain, to

bacco, cotton, cattle14 and other products as well. Merchants from this stratum

eventually managed to earn more than the Druze muq tacg s, whose status was

gradually weakened, and they began to take the place of the Druze muq tacg s not only economically but also socially and politically.

As the traditional structure of the Emirate began to change, the new middle stratum, composed mainly of these Christian merchants, included several groups

with various functions. Some served as commercial mediators between the

Mountain and the Syrian hinterland, while others gradually became active trad ers with Europe, dealing mainly in silk but also in other products. Socially the

group consisted of a variety of members - fall hs who entered into commerce

and accumulated wealth, officials of the Emirate who also began to trade, and

finally the intelligentsia who surrounded the court of Am r Bas r and had ac

quired positions in his administration. This middle stratum soon became a key participant in the economic and social life of the Mountain.

Christian Market Towns and the Rising Mountain Middle Stratum

Two Christian market towns in Mount Lebanon, Zahle and Deir al-Qamar il lustrate the growing importance of this Christian stratum and the increasing economic activities between the Mountain and the Syrian hinterland. Both towns began to flourish as early as the mid-18th century. The commercial activi ties under Bas r, which had given the Christian middle stratum the lead in eco nomic and social status in the Mountain, contributed towards making these towns central to the Emirate. With a rising Christian population, they repre sented two noteworthy economic processes that began to take shape under Am r Bas r. Firstly, from the local point of view, they were part of the extensive trad

13-I.M. Smilanskaya, "From subsistence to market economy - 1850's", in C. Issawi (ed.),

The Economic History of the Middle East, 1800-1914, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1961, p. 226-227.

14 - Smilanskaya, "From subsistence to market economy", p. 236-240. Gast n D k ss ,

"Ta'rih al-harir fi bil d al-S m", al-Masriq, XV (1912), p. 374-380; c Abb s Abu S lih, al

Tct'r h al-siy si li-l-im ra al-Sih biyyah fi gabal Lubn n 1697-1842, Bayr t, Sarikat al Hadamat al-Sah fiyyah wa 31-Matb ciyyah, 1984, p. 72-73.



ing being conducted across a wider region -

dealing with the whole region of

Syria and not just with a particular city or with a narrow region. Secondly, their

products, especially the silk of Deir al-Qamar, began to find its way into the

European markets.15

Zahle, with its geographic proximity to the Biqac and Bacalbek, the centres of grain growing, and subject to the rule of Am r Bas r, became a leading factor in the commercial interchanges between the plains and the Mountain. In fact, it became a central supplier of grain for the Mountain, which grew more and more silk. The Mountain does not provide enough farm-lands. This was accompanied by an increase in populations, among other things due to a higher birth rate

provided by the stability of the government. Of course the topography of the Mountain was not suitable for wheat production. Due to this situation the Mountain was forced to import grain from neighbouring regions. However, the

profitable link for Zahle was not only with the plains and the Mountain but also with the Syrian hinterland. Its traders bought grain and livestock from the Syr ian interior, from cities such as Horns and Aleppo. Others dealt with tobacco,

grain or alcohol and yet others traded in land. Many exchanged goods with trav

elling merchants, plying their trade between the Syrian coast and the interior.16 The prosperity of the town attracted a larger population. At the end of the 18th

century it had had less than 1,000 inhabitants, but by the late 1850s its popula tion was probably between 10,000 to 12,000.17 A large portion of this popula tion was merchants and entrepreneurs who traded with itinerant peddlers, ex

changed goods with other districts and speculated in grain. The Macl f family is a typical example illustrating these growing economic

activities of merchants in Zahle. They traded in silk, tobacco and livestock.18 Their sphere of activity reached as far as Damascus, the Mountain, the plains and Europe. The family held much property in the Biqac and in Bacalbek. One

example is the Greek Catholic Ignatius Macl f who served as the Bishop of Di

yarbakir and also became the Bishop of Zahle and the Biqac in 1816. Ignatius

15 - Naff, A Social History of Zahle, I, p. 206-212; It is difficult to understand the develop ment of Zahle and Deir al-Qamar without paying attention to the changes that took place in

Bil d al-S m in the 18th and 19th centuries. One of the most influential phenomena that

stands out in the life of the cities of Bil d al-S m, especially during the 18th and beginning of

the 19th century, was the growing role of the city as a centre of commerce and craftsmanship. The same process took place in small towns such as Deir al-Qamar and Zahle. See, Irina Sm

-

l y nsk y , al-Bun al-iqtis diyyah wa J l-igtim ciyyah fi al-Masriq al-carabi cal mas rif al-casr

al-hadit, translated from Russian, Bayr t, Dar al-F r b , 1989, p. 137-182.

16- cIs Iskandar Macl f, Daw ni al-qut f fi ta3 nh Bani macl f Bayr t, al-Matbacah al

cUtm niyyah fi Baabda, 1907-1908, p. 387-389.

17- Before 1860 Zahle's population numbered 12,000. In 1887 it was 18,000. For further

details see, c s Iskandar Macl f, Ta3rib Zahlah, Zahle, Zahlah al-Fat h, 1984, p. 217-218;

Macl f, Daw ni al-qut f p. 117; Henri Ab -H tir, Gumh riyat Zahlah - Awwal gumh riyyah

fi sarq Bayr t, Bayr t, al-MuDassasah al-carabiyyah li-1-diras t wa 3l-nasr, 1978, p. 165-168;

Leila Fawaz, An Occasion for War: Civil Conflict in Lebanon and Damascus in 1860, London, I.B. Tauris, 1994, p. 34.

18 - Macl f, Daw ni al-Qut f, p. 580-581.


56 FRUMA ZACHS

traded mainly in livestock. During his time the commerce of Zahle expanded to

Aleppo and to other places throughout the Syrian hinterland.19 As Naff empha sised, with these economic activities growing, ... it became more difficult for this class to fit itself into the old organization, it no doubt sensed in Bas r's fa vour the chance to exploit new political opportunities and the hope of liberating itself from the feudal system. The ambitions of its members drove them to play a

more active role not only in the affairs of their community, but in the region as

well, and to court the attention of Bas r .20

A similar economic process took place at Deir al-Qamar but in this market town it was even more vigorous. Since the late 18th century it had become the

most prosperous centre in the Mountain. Its population grew constantly, and

while at the beginning of the 19th century its population amounted to 4,000 people, by the late 1850s it had reached over 7,000.21 Most of its population was Christian, the majority being Greek Catholics or Maronites.22 As in the case of Zahle, Deir al-Qamar reached its peak under Amir Bas r II. Some of its im

portance derived from the fact that it served as the capital of the Emirate and thus as an administrative and cultural centre of the Mountain. Deir al-Qamar also played the role of a commercial centre that linked the coastal regions,

Mount Lebanon, Damascus, and the Syrian hinterland. Rustum Biz, who came from the prominent B z family in Deir al-Qamar and was close to Am r Bas r, wrote in his memoirs: The commercial centre [of Deir al-Qamar] was filled with goods of all kinds, which the merchants brought from all over [Syria] .23 Deir al-Qamar was mainly a centre for exporting silk. As was previously men tioned, Bas r encouraged this trade. The town had 300 looms and approximately 500 women operated them.24 Yet it also traded in other products such as soap, tobacco, cotton, grain, and livestock.

The silk commerce can illustrate how the economic system worked. Most of the silk cocoons of Mount Lebanon was gathered in qaysariyyaf Deir al-Qamar and were handed over to the wholesalers, who weighed them and then sold them to the merchants. The merchants sold the silk in the interior regions of Syria, in

19 - Macl f, Daw ni al-Qut f, p. 387.

20 - Naff, A Social History of Zahle, I, p. 217.

21 - Fawaz, An Occasion for War, p. 38. In 1880, the population figures showed 7,000-8,000

people. Sukr al-Bust n estimated the population of Deir al-Qamar before 1900 as 15,000, Sukr al-Bust n , Dayr al-Qamar fl hir al-qarn al-t sic casar muh walah ta'rihiyyah igti m ciyyah wa iqtis diyyah, Bayr t, Mans r t Markaz al-Abh t, 1969, p. 13; Laurence Oliphant, The Land of Gilead with Excursions in the Lebanon, London, W. Blackwood, 1880, p. 353-361.

22 - A.A. Paton, The Modern Syrians, London, Longman, Brown, Green and Longman, 1844,

p. 66-82.

23 - Baz, Mudakkir t Rustum B z, p. 112.

24 - Ibid.

25 - Qaysariyyat Deir al-Qamar was similar to a covered market or bazaar. It was surrounded with shops and stores and considered the economic centre of Deir al-Qamar. See, cIsa Iskan dar MacI f, "Dayr al-Qamar cal cahd al-am r,'' al-Masriq (1931), p. 302. In this article MacI f

quotes several pages from the memoirs of Rustum B z.



cities such as Horns, Damascus and Aleppo. Part of the silk went to owners of looms in Deir al-Qamar for making women's scarves, for example.26 In short, the merchants and the wholesalers had the right to buy and sell the silk freely

without the control of Bas r, and thus managed to accumulate much wealth.

Soon, shops offering European merchandise began to open and local Christian businessmen became familiar with the West and travelled there occasionally. Quality merchandise from the shops of Deir al-Qamar became well known across the region of Syria. It was estimated that around the second half of the 19th century the town had 400 shops.27

By the beginning of the 19th century Deir al-Qamar was becoming a leading centre of commerce in the region and the richest town in the Mountain. In 1843 Rose, the British Consul General in Beirut during the 40s, wrote his

[Bas r] actions changed the small capital of the Druze into the most thriving commercial town in the Mountain with the population of Christians five or six times larger than the Druze .28

The town enjoyed security and economic prosperity. It could supply all the needs of its inhabitants and also attracted people from Sidon, Aleppo and Da mascus, who came to it not only for commerce but also in order to settle in it.29 The town now had a growing middle stratum, which had not previously existed. This stratum included families such as the Misaqa, S sa, Bust n , Sidy q, Zalzal, Tabit, D m n and Dahd h. Members of this stratum displayed their wealth with their grand houses and elegant clothes, in many cases made of silk.30

Most of them were involved in the growing economic activities in the Mountain. Some of them were powerful even prior to Bas r's period but man

aged to further strengthen their economic and social status under him. In several cases, their prosperity lasted even after the Sih b Emirate came to an end. In

fact, at the end of the 19th century we can see many families that were central to economic life under Bas r, maintaining and even managing to enhance their economic status.31

The following examples can illustrate the success and wealth of Christian merchant families from Deir al-Qamar. During his time, Hab b D m n was one of the richest people in Deir al-Qamar and perhaps throughout the whole

region. He owned many lands in Palestine on which he grew sesame, lemons, and olives, as well as silk worms in the Biq c. His fortune, by the end of the 19th century, was estimated at half a million gold lira or more.32

26 - B z, Mudakkir t Rustum B z, p. 112.

27 - al-Bust n , Dayr al-Qamar fl hir al-qarn al-t sic casar, p. 77.

28 - Public Record Office (PRO), London, Foreign Office, 226/83 Rose to Stratford Can

ning, 30 April 1843; CH. Churchill, The Druzes and the Maronites under Turkish Rule from 1840-1860, second Impression, New York, Arno Press, 1973, p. 104.


30 - On the habits of dressing in the Mountain see, ibid, p. 132-135.

31 - al-Bust n , Dayr al-Qamar ft hir al-qarn al-t sic casar, p. 65-70, 103-106.

32 - Ibid., p. 66.


58 FRUMAZACHS

The Dahd hs were a prominent family before the time of Bas r but under him managed to increase their wealth, and consequently advance both socially and politically. Most of its members were employed in the bureaucracy under Bas r, others were involved in trade, mainly in silk. Members of the family soon became very close to Am r Bas r and acted as his advisors and occasionally as ar bitrators during conflicts between amirs in the Mountain. They were also part of Bas r's diwan and collected the miri?^ The family held the position of mudabbir

(the highest position in the administration of the Emirate) for 58 years.34 In sev eral cases members of this family took other positions in the bureaucracy of the amir in order to promote their family interests, especially financial.35

Some of the positions were hereditary, handed down from father to son. In this way the families gained further influence and wealth, especially since it was not rare for Bas r to give them lands and property as a reward for their loyalty. On the other hand, at times it was the other way around

- families that were

disloyal to Bas r could loose their property.36 After the Sih b Emirate came to its end, the Dahd hs were deeply involved with western trade.

A Bilateral Relationship

It is understandable why Bas r encouraged and supported this middle stratum in its economic activities in both of the Christian towns - Zahle and Deir al

Qamar. Their economic prosperity gave Bas r the fuel that powered the Emir ate's engine. Sometimes he exempted the merchants from certain taxes and built new roads and buildings for the growing commerce. His policy towards these towns made them more secure than before, and as such, the power of the grow ing middle stratum became more significant. In fact, it became the essence of the social, economic, and political life of the Emirate and also its source of sta

bility, power, and prosperity. Bas r's period gave a meaningful boost and a

strong foundation to many Christian families that would later become, by the end of the 19th century, part of the commercial elite throughout the whole re

gion of Syria. These social and economic changes entailed a new balance of power in the

Emirate and in its economic life. It was natural that Am r Bas r, after weakening the power of the muq tacgis, would become dependent upon this growing Christian middle stratum. From the beginning he strove to lessen the muqd tacgis as a political, social and economic power and turn the Emirate into a cen tralised system run by a bureaucracy appointed by him and accountable only to


34 - M h Tl Mis qah, al-Gaw b cal iqtir h al-ahb b, unbound and unprinted manuscript, Bayr t, 1874, p. 69; Salim Hatt r al-Dahd h, "al-K nt Rasid al-Dahd h wa usratuhu", al

Mafriq, IV (1901), p. 381-395; Mans r Hat n , Nubdah ta^r h yyah fi al-muq tacah al-kisra w niyyah, p. 260-263; on the term "mudabbir" see, Harik, Politics and Change, p. 168-172.

35 - Dominique Chevallier, La soci t du mont Liban a V poque de la r volution industrielle en

Europe, Paris, Librairie orientaliste P. Geuthner, 1971, p. 88.

36 - B z, Mudakkir t Rustum B z, p. 127-128.



him. The merchants were an essential part in this new system. Bas r nurtured

them as a loyal group that would eventually owe him their personal prestige, a

group that he could depend upon, and indeed they became key figures in the economic life of the Emirate.

Bas r was also strongly involved in the economic life of the Emirate, and in the silk industry in particular.37 In more than one instance he succeeded in gain ing profit from these growing activities through the high taxes he imposed and the loans and rents that he collected especially from the merchants. His income

was derived from several sources. As these merchants accumulated more wealth

Bas r borrowed higher sums of money from them and imposed additional taxes, such as the tax on the looms which was 30 kuru^ per year.39 Bas r's share of the income that came from trade in the Emirate was large. Most of the building, shops (mag liq) and storehouses in qaysariyyat Deir al-Qamar were Bas r's own

property. Their number and variety indicate Deir al-Qamar's prosperity. Bas r would rent these shops to members of the leading merchant's families. The high prices they paid Bas r are an indication of the extent of their income, since we can speculate that their profits from these shops was even higher.

Tools of measurement were also the property of the amir and were rented out by him. Such was the case regarding the kiy la, which was the tool for meas

uring wheat. It was rented along with the qabb n, a tool for measuring heavy goods, for 1,125 kurus a year. Finally, the silk weighing measure was rented for

1,032 kurus a year to the B z family.40 Another source of income was the taxes that Bas r's wakils, who came from

the families loyal to him, collected directly from the fall hs. Most of the wakils were clerks serving in his administration, some of them coming from the mer chant families (for example, the Dahd h family). Prior to Bas r's period, as men

tioned earlier, it was the traditional role of the muqdtacgis to collect these taxes,

37 - Other members as well of the Sih b family were involved in the silk commerce. For ex

ample, Am r Hasan, Am r Bas r's brother who governed Kisraw n was involved in silk. Hat -

n , Nubdah ta* rihtyyah, p. 219.

38 - In 1688 the Ottoman government introduced a new monetary unit, called the kurus (pi

astre), exchanged at 4.5 to the pound sterling, with one kurus equaling 40 paras and 120 ak es.

The value of the kurus debased rapidly. In 1790 it was exchanged at 11.1 to the pound (in Is

tanbul) and at 1835 (toward the end of Am r Bas r's period) reached 100 kurus per pound. To

give some indication of cost of living, one okka (2.75 lbs.) of wheat flour cost 1.2 piastres in

Beirut of 1844. Suraiya Faroqhi, Bruce McGowan, Donald Quataert and evket Pamuk, An

Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, 1600-1914, Cambridge, Cambridge Uni

versity Press, 1997, II, p. 966-968; Charles Issawi, The Economic History of Turkey, 1840

1914, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1980, p. 326-335.


40 - For example, the soap shop was rented for 1,225 kurus a year to the S c

family. The

slaughter-house for cattle was rented to Ab M r n for 1,030 kurus a year and the slaughter

house for sheep was rented to cAb d al-Sidy q for 1,130 kurus a year. Sometimes the rent

money was exchanged with goods. Such was the case of cAb d al-Sidy q who, instead of pay

ing Bas r his rent for the cattle slaughter-house, gave him 12 head of cattle and sometimes even

more, every day. B z, Mudakkir t Rustum B z, p. 113-114.


6o FRUMAZACHS

out of which they took for themselves around ten per cent.41 But after Bask suc ceeded in destroying their status, he managed to obtain direct control over al most all the profits resulting from these taxes. Consequently, the situation of the

fall hs became worse, since Bas r doubled or tripled the miri tax whenever he wanted to. This situation forced the peasants into a vicious cycle of borrowing money and selling their crops in advance and for low prices. Meanwhile, the wholesalers and the merchants and of course Bas r made large profits from the situation. These various sources of income made Bas r very wealthy and by the end of his reign his annual income was estimated approximately at nine million kurus (about 83,000).42

Yet, even though the majority of control and wealth was concentrated in the hands of the amir, he did not enjoy absolute power, since he needed the support of the rising Christian middle stratum, whose profit was growing as well. On the one hand it seems as if this group depended on him, especially since he offered them the power, security, and tranquillity that they had not had in the past. On the other hand, the growth of this middle stratum made Bas r partly dependent on them as well, since their commerce ensured the prosperity of his reign and of himself. Large amounts of the amirs income, as we saw, came directly or indi

rectly from this commerce. Thus, the merchants needed Bas r for his protective policies, and he needed them in order to support his reign and stabilise it. This bilateral relationship produced a more mobile and dynamic society in which ini tiative could help advance one's economic and eventually social status. This de

velopment contrasted with the Mountain's traditional, feudal, hierarchical and thus static society of the past.

From the beginning of the 19th century, a strong Christian middle stratum

had emerged in the Mountain. It was a stratum that enjoyed economic prosper

ity for several decades, and a stratum that managed to build a local economic network between the Mountain and Syria's hinterland. As this financial initia tive developed, a growing economic awareness began to make its first appearance among this stratum. Its members strove to transform their community into a

strong financial centre, which could answer to the growing needs of their econ

omy. They understood the source of their power and manoeuvred in this situa tion, striving to preserve the new balance. In general, Bas r could destroy or

promote them as he chose, and yet the stratum gained more than it lost from these ties, since alongside its obligations towards Bas r, it enjoyed significant privileges. As Doumani wrote: In Greater Syria during most of the Ottoman

period, local and regional commerce was every bit as important, if not more so

41 - Polk, The Opening of South Lebanon, p. 15.

42 - An additional source of Bas r's income was the Kurds who traded sheep between Damas cus and the Mountain. Every year they gave him 100,000 kurus for protecting their property within the areas of the Emirate, i.e. in the Biqa and south of the Mountain. Baz, Mudakkir t Rustum B z, p. 113; Ab S lih, al-Ta?rih al-siy st Wl-im ra al-Sih biyya, p. 325.


COMMERCE AND MERCHANTS 6I

in terms of daily life, as trade with Europe. The merchants of the interior domi nated commercial, social, and cultural networks .43

Economic Development of Beirut

The second, and better known phase of the development of this Christian mid dle stratum in the region of Syria took place in 19th-century Beirut. I would like

especially to emphasise a few points regarding the connection between the Mountain's economic development under Bas r and that of Beirut, stressing the relations between centre and periphery, i.e. the periphery's (Mount Lebanon) economic role in shaping the centre (Beirut).

As a result of a series of civil strives that began in the 1840s and reached their

peak in 1860, a large portion of this Mountain middle stratum immigrated to Beirut, to the point that especially after 1860 the majority of the population in Beirut was Christian.44 For example, after the first riots in Mount Lebanon and after Bas r was exiled in 1840, most of the merchants who could afford to left Deir al-Qamar for Beirut or other places along the coast. One such merchant

family was the S sa, from Deir al-Qamar. This family, together with 20 or 30 other merchants, constituted a body of merchants from Deir al-Qamar who de cided not to go back to Deir al-Qamar after the exile of Bas r, no matter what form of government was to be established. Yet, they did decide that when the situation calmed down, they would return to Deir al-Qamar to collect their debts, sell their property and then settle back in Beirut, Sidon or elsewhere. At this stage they did not see the return to Deir al-Qamar as an option after the ex ile of their patron.45 These families and other merchant immigrants tried to re

peat the success they had previously enjoyed in the Mountain in the growing economic centre of Beirut as well. Some of them already had extensive commer cial ties within this city; others became successful merchants in it in later years. In many cases, it was the second and the third generation descendants of the

Mountain families who established a leading economic and social status in Bei rut to the end of the 19th century and even beyond.

The middle stratum of the Mountain chose to immigrate to Beirut because the city was already developing into an important economic centre for the re

gion. In fact, this was the main attraction, among other things, that drew this stratum to the city. In contrast to the Mountain, Beirut's economic rise was

43 - Doumani, Rediscovering Palestine, p. 5.

44 - It is hard to give exact figures or even estimate how many people immigrated from the

Mountain, and especially from Zahle and Deir al-Qamar, to Beirut. Fawaz wrote that during the civil war in mid-June 1860, Druze attacks on the towns of Zahle and Deir al-Qamar pro voked a flight. Most of the people crowded into neighbouring villages and the coastal cities. In

less than four weeks, during May and June 1860, about 10,000 Christians from the Mountain

became refugees. Fawaz, Merchants and Migrants, p. 24. Also, families that were active in Bei

rut during the 19th century in economic and cultural life are in many cases families that origi nated from the Mountain.

45 - PRO, London, Foreign Office, 226/83, Rose to Stratford Canning, 30 April 1843.


62 FRUMAZACHS

mainly due to ties with the European market and the import-export trade it en

joyed with this market. These developments had already begun in the 1820s, that is, prior to the immigration of the Mountain's Christian middle stratum. It

was the commercial agreement between the Ottoman empire and Britain in 1825, followed by the Balta Limani Agreement, and the appearance of steamers, that strengthened this process, and finally transformed Beirut into a prosperous port city. The arrival of missionaries and consuls during the 1820s and the 1830s further supported these developments. As a result, and prior to the arrival of the

Mountain immigrants, a local Christian Beiruti middle stratum was already in

place. It included families such as the Sursuqs, Mudawwars, Tr ds, and Bustrus, who served as middlemen between the local and the international market.

Over the years the newcomers mingled with the Beiruti stratum and eventu

ally became an integral part of it. The immigrants did not create a new eco nomic environment, but rather served as another catalyst to an existing process. These merchants of the interior who immigrated to the city and others who

stayed in the Mountain but managed to have extensive economic relations with the city, brought with them local commercial experience, economic and social ties and knowledge gained over two or three generations. Their experience, the

experience of the Syrian interior, was probably one of the parameters, which

helped Beirut in later years to become a leading economic centre for the entire

region of Syria. Thus, it must be emphasised that Beirut owed most of its trans formation to its financial ties with the European markets, but its local economic

developments in the Syrian hinterland must also be taken into account. It was this combination which eventually gave Beirut its economic status.

Once again the history of the Macluf-s from Zahle can be used as a proto

type of a family who later transplanted their success from the Mountain to Bei rut. The Macl fs had ties with leading Beiruti merchant families such as the

Sursuq, stayed in Zahle and managed to influence and to be part of the growing economy in Beirut. One example is Nuc man Macl f who was born in Zahle in 1831. His main activities were conducted after the period of Am r Bas r II. Yet it is reasonable to assume that his fortune and success derived, in part, from the

high economic and social status that his family gained during the time of Am r Bas r and continued to have even after the am r was long gone. Nucman's main commerce was in livestock and crops. He also bought property in Bil d Bacal bek, the Biq

c and Marg cUy n. In 1863 he earned 200,000 kurus in a single month from the commerce in livestock. In later years his economic activities ex

panded to Damascus and Beirut. In Damascus he traded in wheat. In Beirut he was mainly active between the 1860s and 1880s. He entered into partnerships with the leading merchant families in this city such as the Bustrus family, the

Sursuqs and the Mudawwars. His business transactions, especially his livestock trade, extended as far as Alexandria, Iraq and Anatolia. He was a very well known figure among the merchants, clerks and consuls during his time.46

Another family that can serve as an example is the Dahd hs, whose influence

46 - Macluf, Daw ni al-qut f, p. 389-391.



in Amir Basir's period was already mentioned. In the 1850s members of this

family immigrated to Beirut and were very active in the trade between the Syrian region and the West. The family opened companies in the city, which had ties

with London and Marseilles. Eventually, it opened an agency in Marseilles.47 A final example is the S sa family, from Deir al-Qamar. This family dealt in

livestock, tobacco and silk. Some of its members immigrated to Beirut and be came economically active there. Their commercial ties extended from the Moun tain to Beirut, Egypt and Europe. One member of the family, cAbdallah Afand S sa, became a notable money-changer in Beirut. Another was Ily s Antun who was considered one of the prominent merchants in Beirut towards the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.48 The family had strong commercial ties with a leading merchant family from Beirut

- the Bustrus' - in the livestock trade. In addition, members of other families who originally came from the Mountain, such as the Salfuns, Zalzals, Bust n s and Sidy qs,49 also

immigrated to Beirut and became central figures in its economic and cultural life.50

These merchants of the Mountain stratum offered the Beiruti merchants first hand experience regarding commercial opportunities with the Syrian hinterland.

Together, the evolving middle stratum enjoyed both knowledge and expertise that allowed it to connect the hinterland with the Syrian coast and on to Europe. In this manner we can claim that the Mountain middle stratum was one of the

parameters that "prepared" the Syrian hinterland for the eventual penetration of the international market.

In many cases Beirut managed to keep its capital in the hands of local mer chants and did not loose most of it to foreign hands. The infusion of experience brought on by the Mountain middle stratum with many decades of experience, may have been one factor that helped to tip the scale in the struggle with the

foreign merchants in favour of the local businessmen, who subsequently took over the prosperous economic development of the city. Yet there is much to ex

plore regarding the importance of local economic networks of market towns and their contribution to urban economic centres, such as Beirut, in the region of

Syria. This importance is revealed by the contribution of Zahle and Deir al

Qamar under Am r Basir to Beirut's eventual social and economic development. It shows that in order properly to understand an economic urban centre,

one

should also study it from the perspective of its periphery.

47 - Chevallier, La soci t du Mont, p. 88.

48 - Macl f, Daw ni al-qut f, p. 390.

49 - For further details on these families see, Tann s al-Sidy q, Ahb r al-acy n ft abai

Lubn n, edited by Butr s al-Bust n , I, Beirut, Mans r t al-G mica al-Lubn niyya, 1993, p. 100-117, 126-139.

50 - MaT f, Daw ni al-qut f, p. 314-316, 389-391, 465-469.


Article Contentsp. [51]p. 52p. 53p. 54p. 55p. 56p. 57p. 58p. 59p. 60p. 61p. 62p. 63

Issue Table of ContentsOriente Moderno, Vol. 25 (86), No. 1 (2006) pp. I-IV, 1-200Front MatterEDITORS' PREFACE [pp. I-IV]VILLAGERS IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE: THE CASE OF CHERVENA VODA, SEVENTEENTH TO THE BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES [pp. 1-20]THE INFLUENCE OF THE MARKET ON THE URBAN AGRARIAN SPACE: THE CASE OF THE TOWN OF ARCADIA IN 1716 [pp. 21-49]COMMERCE AND MERCHANTS UNDER AMR BAR II: FROM MARKET TOWN TO COMMERCIAL CENTRE [pp. 51-63]BUILDING ALLIANCES: A CHRISTIAN MERCHANT IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY KARAFERYE [pp. 65-75]THE COMMERCIAL PRACTICES AND PROTOINDUSTRIAL ACTIVITIES OF HACI HRISTO RACHKOV, A BULGARIAN TRADER AT THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH TO THE BEGINNING OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY [pp. 77-91]WHEN COFFEE BROUGHT ABOUT WEALTH AND PRESTIGE: THE IMPACT OF EGYPTIAN TRADE ON SALONICA [pp. 93-107]MARKET NETWORKS AND OTTOMAN-EUROPEAN COMMERCE, C. 1700-1825 [pp. 109-128]OTTOMAN GREEKS IN THE DUTCH LEVANT TRADE: COLLECTIVE STRATEGY AND INDIVIDUAL PRACTICE (C. 1750-1821) [pp. 129-147]SLAVE HUNTING AND SLAVE REDEMPTION AS A BUSINESS ENTERPRISE: THE NORTHERN BLACK SEA REGION IN THE SIXTEENTH TO SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES [pp. 149-159]THE OTTOMANS AND THE YEMENI COFFEE TRADE [pp. 161-171]OTTOMANS AND THE INDIA TRADE IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY: SOME NEW DATA AND RECONSIDERATIONS [pp. 173-179]HAMZA EFEND'S TREATISE ON BUYING AND SELLING OF 1678 [pp. 181-186]LAW AND TRADE IN THE EARLY FIFTEENTH-CENTURY THE CASE OF CAGI SATI OGLU [pp. 187-191]PUBLIC GOOD AND PRIVATE EXPLOITATION: CRITICISM OF THE TOBACCO RGIE IN 1909 [pp. 193-200]Back Matter

Zachs 2006 Commerce Under Bashir II

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