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Pashas: Traders And Travellers In The Islamic World
James Mather
Editions
| Cover |
Publisher |
ISBN Number |
Price |
Buy |
| hbk |
Yale |
9780300126396 |
£25.00 |
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Review
From 1581 to 1825 the Levant Company had a charter to trade as a monopoly within the Ottoman Empire, based on a set of agreements – ‘capitulations’ – with the Sultan to abide by certain limits. In Aleppo, Smyrna (Izmir) and Istanbul, these English ‘pashas’ grew rich by exporting silk and other things, and importing either bullion or English cloth. They had to pay for their own security and live at peace with their hosts, which meant that they often developed a deep knowledge of Islam and Ottoman culture which was at odds with the popular image of the Savage Turk. As British Imperial ambitions grew, the Levant Company’s fortunes declined. With the rise of the East India Company and the vast profits to be made in India, and the increase in gunboat diplomacy occasioned by the Napoleonic Wars - especially the French invasion of Egypt – the Levant Company was seen to be reactionary in both economic and cultural terms. Although sometimes turgid, this is a valuable book that fills a gap. It is a Middle Eastern counterpart to the world described in Dalrymple’s White Moghuls, and a fascinating sequel to the Mediterranean struggles of Barnaby Rogerson’s The Last Crusaders. The Middle East and Islam has been, and is, so often painted as ‘other’: it is illuminating to see how, behind the political and popular rhetoric, long and deep links exist through trade and cultural interchange. - review by John de Falbe
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