Mediterranean Encounters: Trade and Pluralism in Early Modern Galata Unavailable

When Al-Hac Mehmed, resident of Kasım Paşa, Istanbul, died onboard ship in the Mediterranean, his estate was registered in the court of the Galata kadi in 1606. He owned stakes in several shops across Istanbul, including a confectionary shop in Galata. He had clearly been trading in Egypt in spices, dyes, coffee, and sugar. Among his movable belongings were fine textiles alongside European watches. He had borrowed money from two charitable endowments, and he owed money to a man with whom he had perhaps gone into partnership. He had also lent money and received collateral. His portfolio spanned long-distance trade, retail, property, and banking. In the inventory of his estate, the topography of Istanbul and its environs meets the wider Mediterranean, and the Ottoman world meets the European. He exemplifies the teeming cast of characters in Zarinebaf’s excellent new study of Galata, the European port of Istanbul on the other...