THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
The emergence of this Christian merchant was basically due to the social changes brought about by the conquests of the Ottoman Empire. The 100 year period that begins with the Fall of Constantinople and ends with the death of Suleyman the Legislator, in 1566, is marked by the phenomenal expansion of the Ottoman Empire. It was a century of almost continual success that brought the Ottomans to the zenith of their power. During the reign of Mehmed the 11 (1451-1481), Ottoman rule was extended over the entire Balkan peninsula, with only a few important islands, including Crete and Cyprus, remaining in Venetian hands, while the Knights of St. John and the Genoese maintained their positions at Rhodes and Chios respectively.
By 1566 both Chios and Rhodes had fallen to the Ottomans and within a few years Cyprus too, was destined to the same fate. The expansion of Ottoman rule over the Balkan peninsula, which had been ravaged by centuries of near-anarchy and constant conflict among Byzantines, Venetians, Serbs, Bulgarians and Genoese, brought at last a semblance of unity, peace and security.

A new social structure was established that created considerable social mobility which in turn permitted the resumption of agricultural activity, almost suspended during the period of anarchy that preceded the Ottoman conquest, stimulated local and regional trade, and created conditions favourable to the growth of a commercial class.

Another basic factor in the productive elements of Ottoman society, such as the tillers of the soil and the craftsmen, the merchants enjoyed a privileged position. While the craftsman and the farmer worked under strict regulation of the production and sale of their goods, the merchant had greater freedom in the accumulation of capital. A lesson, I believe, for some people in governments around the world, and a lesson repeated in history many times but unfortunately ignored, very much to the detriment of their fellow countrymen. But to come back to history.

The merchant's privileged position was determined by the function he exercised in the economy. Not only was he indispensable in international and inter-regional trade, but he also supplied raw materials for local industries and above all, foodstuffs. Commerce proved to be the most effective way of capital accumulation, thus becoming the most profitable field for investment. Through the various functions it fulfilled, the merchant class formed an indispensable element in the state, and thus the state and the law accorded it a privileged position.

Whilst it is difficult to assess with any precision the economic life of the Ottoman Empire, it is certain that the State consciously encouraged the Greek and other Balkan merchants to expand their trade with the West through the Balkan overland routes, as well as by way of the Adriatic and the Danube. Another stimulus to the expansion of commercial activity was the inability of Venice, weakened by her naval wars with Turkey, to monopolise the Adriatic commerce.

The Greek merchant class began to play an important role in the economic life of the Empire immediately following the Fall of Constantinople. For instance, in 1477 we find a five man consortium of Greeks, outbidding their Muslim competitors in purchasing the customs agencies of the ports of Constantinople, Galata, Gallipoli, as well as other ports along the Aegean, for the sum of 450,000 ducats, a considerable fortune when one considers that the entire revenue of Venice from her Balkan and Eastern Mediterranean dominions in 1469, was 180,000 ducats, less than half of what the Greeks had spent. Thus being in a position to secure such income for rapid accumulatiom of capital, the Greek merchant class grew rapidly.

By the end of the 15th century, the Greeks were active not only in internal commerce, but also in international trade extending from the Black Sea, the Adriatic and Italy to Marseilles, Antwerp and Moscow. Ancona had a phenamenal growth as a major, international trading centre during the first half of the 16th century, and it was one of the first commercial centres outside the Balkans which attracted a considerable number of Greeks. By the middle of the 16th century, there were about 200 Greek houses already established in Ancona.

With this general background in respect to the activities of the Greek merchants, let us now turn to shipping proper.

With respect to the direct involvement of Greeks in interregional maritime commerce we have no precise data. Although Greek ships were to be found in Eastern ports as well as in Alexandria and Venice, Ragusans and Venetians almost entirely monopolised the trade of the Ottoman Empire with the West, at least during the first half of the 15th century; the French, English and Dutch entered the picture later. However, Greek maritime commerce in the Adriatic was quite prominent at this time. Also, the maritime economy of Livorno during the second half of the 16th century further supports the assumption as to Greek shipping participating in the trade beyond the central Mediterranean. Between 1573 and 1593, ships reported as arriving in Livorno from Zakyntho, Crete, Chio, Constantinople and Alexandria, were listed as Greek, French, etc., but determining the ownership of the vessels co~ing from the Greek islands was very difficult because of the fact that they were manned either wholly or in part by Greeks. It seems that four centuries ago things were not very much different than what they are today, in determining the ownership of ships. It must be the usage of the trade, as they say in the Baltic, and perhaps most significantly, as we have already seen from history up to now, the need to be free and independent, the only climate that is conducive to the growth and success of free trade, free enterprise and of course shipping.

The Greeks also increased their influence and took advantage of the situation to expand their shipping activities and trade, because of some of the events in the Europe of the 16th century.

The population of Europe was increasing rapidly, and hence the demand for grain was also mounting at a tremendous pace. Portugal was in desperate need for grain, having suffered six famines between 1560 and 1600. The Turkish-Spanish War wrought havoc to the trade, and both Constantinople and Italy needed grain badly. Thus, the growth of commerce and of shipping in the Aegean and especially Greece, was provided with an important stimulus.

Salonica, Volos, Preveza and other smaller ports, regularly exported grain to the West. In spite of all attempts by the Ottoman Government to regulate the movement of grain, the illicit trade flourished. The beneficiaries were the producers, but especially the Greek merchants and shipowners. The fast, light caiques were the Greek grain carriers of the Aegean. The illicit grain trade was one of the most lucrative activities of the Greeks, enabling them, as we shall see later, to amass considerable fortunes.

At the time the Balkans came under Ottoman control, most of the Aegean islands were under Venetian and Genoese occupation, and the Archipelago was infested with pirates, which presented a serious threat to Ottoman commerce. Consequently, the Turks embarked on naval campaigns to try to clear this problem.

The existing social-economic conditions in the islands under the Italians, facilitated Turkish efforts. The feudal system imposed by the Italian republics was much more oppressive than the Turkish rule at the time. There was harsh economic exploitation by the Italians, heavy taxation and religious oppression, and it is thus a matter of record that the Greeks rarely came to the support of their Italian masters but instead, frequently collaborated with the Turks. This was later justified, for once the authority af the Turks was established over the Greek islands, the situation changed dramatically. People returned to re-populate the islands, and a semblance of peace prevailed in the Aegean. Under Turkey, taxation was less severe, and most of the islands were given considerable privileges which eventually amounted to autonomy.

All the measures of a freer economy were calculated to encourage individual enterprise, make the'islands economically productive and thereby profit the state. Words or policies that are true and correct in any period in history that we may be talking about. Characteristic of the Turkish policy at the time is the following directive by the BEYLERBEY of Cyprus:

"As the island of Cyprus, newly-conquered by my invincible army, is exhausted from war, I order that the inhabitants of this province be oppressed in no way, that justice be administered with leniency, and that taxes be levied with moderation, so that the island may regain its former splendour and prosperity".

It is clear, therefore, that the establishment and the different policies of the Ottoman Empire, were beneficial to the Greeks of the time and gave them the opportunity to play an important role in the economy of Europe. The revival of the economic life of the Aegean inevitably entailed the rapid growth of maritime activity.

Also, as we have seen in maritime, pre-historic times, piracy had played an important role. Equally, piracy during this period was instrumental in the initial, capital accumulation among Greek mariners. The Greek pirates became more prominent in the beginning of the 16th century, either working independently or in collaboration with others. Some of those who started as fishermen and small-time pirates, attained immense power, such as the Barbarossa brothers, of Greek origin. During the second half of the century, the Greek pirates came into their own, one of the most notable Cretan pirates being Manousos Theotokopoulos, Domenico's brother.

In the Greek islands, piracy became an integral part of the local economy, an accumula- tion of capital that eventually was invested in proper maritime enterprises. It would be difficult to visualise a regional merchant marine emerging out of an economy allowing small margins for the accumulation of capital.The pirates, both Greeks and Western Europeans, had established an economic relationship with the local people, especially the merchants who bought pirate goods cheaply, as well as with the Turkish authorities.

Occasionally, pirates would operate with the protection of local authorities or persons of wealth. In some cases, piracy seems to have been a communal enterprise and some islands, such as Milos, Kimolos and Mykonos, became prosperous as a result of their special relationship with pirates. Yioura, Amorgos, Skopelos, Skiathos, los, Hydra, Spetses, Tinos, Psara and others, also had special relationships with pirates. In brief, piracy was intimately related to the regional economy of Greece, allowed for the accumulation of capital, supplemented and indirectly supported legitimate, commercial ventures, and thus was instrumental in the development of the Balkan merchant and the Greek merchant marine.

What we have said so far is, what was happening during the first years, so to speak, of the Ottoman Empire, i.e. approximately until the end of the 16th century.

The years and the decades that followed, saw the beginning of the downfall of the Empire. The Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 represents the end of an era and a turning point in the history of South East Europe.

Whilst the question of the declineof the economic life of the Mediterranean remains a controversial issue, it is clear that the emergence of the oceanic trade routes opened new horizons in shipping. The establishment of the European merchants and shipowners in the principal Ottoman ports and their virtual monoply of commerce in association with the Greeks (Ottoman subjects), had a damaging influence on the economic life of the Empire. These merchants and shipowners were the beneficiaries of the economic crisis.

The Greeks were the suppliers of the raw materials of the whole Balkan peninsula, and controlled most of the trade and shipping with Egypt, the Aegean islands and Continental Greece. From simple carriers and local merchants, the Greeks were now assuming the role of shipping agents, handling goods for foreign accounts, as well as importers and distributors of goods to their final markets. Of course, in the beginning their activities in international trade were still restricted, since most of the seaborne commerce was in the hands of the English, Dutch, French, and others.

A brief examination of the economic setting of Constantinople at this period, gives us also some insight into the maritime, commercial organisation of the Empire and the Greek merchant fleet.

Constantinople, the administrative and military centre of an immense empire, was the largest city in Europe at the turn of the 17th century, with a population of approximately 700,000. The bulk of the goods imported were destined for the provisioning of the City and the armed forces. The concentric character of this City's trade served as a strong stimulus to the rapid growth of an indigenous merchant class, which controlled the domestic market; the exclusion of all foreign shipping from the Black Sea was also instrumental to the strengthening of this class, predominantly Greek, and to the development of a sizeable Greek merchant marine. Despite the importance of the land routes, Constantinople, between 1592 and 1783, depended primarily on such a merchant marine. Local traffic alone connecting Constantinople and Galata, required a considerable number of small craft. It is estimated that during the second half of the 17th century, approximately 15 to 16,000 peramas and caiques along with other types of vessels, were needed for local transportation. Here again, the Greeks played a very important role. One account gives us a good picture of the immense maritime activity of the period. There were 2,000 and some say 9,000 captains of the Black Sea, and 3,000 captains of the Mediterranean, mainly Greek.

It is said that the shipowners who resided at Yeni Koy were for the most part Greeks, possessing enormous fortunes. This is entirely explicable given the advantageous position of the Greeks, who not only controlled the interregional and coastal shipping, but were also in a commanding position geographically. Greeks were to be found everywhere from the Black Sea to Alexandria as merchants, mariners, shipowners and shipping agents. Their centre of activity was Galata, and the Aegean and the Black Sea constituted their bases of operation. The grain trade, and especially the illicit grain traffic, was their most profitable activity. Indeed, the grain trade was a Greek quasi-monoply placing them in the position to manipulate the market to their advantage. The international commerce at that time was however still in the hands of the other Europeans. As a rule, the Greek merchant marine of the Ottoman era was not only involved in distant voyages, but rather restricted to the coastal shipping of the Aegean and the Black Sea, although ships belonging to Patmos and Castelorizo in the first half of the 17th century did venture as far as Italy.