The Late Ottoman Empire Textile Industry Under The Impact Of Western Industrialization Wave

The Ottoman Empire was located at the junction of the Europe and Asian continents.Its superior natural environment and important geographical location provided the Ottoman Empire with sufficient textile materials and convenient trade routes.Under such circumstances,the Ottoman Empire established a mature textile industry and a complete textile trade system.After entering the 19 th century,western countries headed by Britain successively completed the industrial revolution,which led to the Ottoman Empire,close to Europe,being the first to be impacted and influenced by the wave of industrialization.The research theme of this thesis is the textile industry of the late Ottoman Empire under the impact of the western industrialization wave.Centering this theme,this thesis explores how the Ottoman Empire’s textile industry and textile trading system were destroyed,and the severity of the destruction.In addition,this thesis also discusses how the textile industry of the Ottoman Empire,when facing the crises,struggled to survive and develop.In terms of the structure,the thesis is mainly divided into four chapters.The first chapter introduces the economic policies and economic structure of the Ottoman Empire,as well as the general situation of its manufacture and commerce of textile raw materials and textiles before the 19 th century.The second chapter,after introducing Europe’s superiority over the Ottoman Empire in textile technology,focuses on how European countries restricted the development of the Ottoman Empire’s textile industry by plundering its textile raw materials and implementing strict tariff policies.Chapter three concerns the western countries dominating the textile trade with the Ottoman Empire through establishing assorted companies.With the invasion of European textiles,the textile export system of the Ottoman Empire was almost completely destroyed,and its domestic textile trade system was also severely hit.Chapter four analyzes the living condition of the Ottoman Empire’s traditional textile industry since the 19 th century,and its exploration process of the modernization of the textile industry.Through the above research,this thesis holds that under the impact of the western industrialization wave in the 19 th century,the Ottoman Empire’s hand-made textile industry presented its strong perseverance.Apart from the impact in some major cities,the hand-made textile industry in other regions had scarcely shown a significant decay,but its textile trading system had suffered severe destruction.In the second half of the19 th century,in order to catch up with the modernization process of the world textile industry,the rulers of the Ottoman Empire began to explore the modern textile industry.Although the accomplishments were limited,it had laid the foundation for the Republic of Turkey to establish a modern textile industry in the future.