Merchants, Mamluks, and Murder: The Political Economy of Trade in Eighteenth-Century Basra

by Abdullah, Thabit A. J.

• ISBN13: 9780791448083
• ISBN10: 0791448088
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-12-01
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr

Author Biography

Thabit A. J. Abdullah is Assistant Professor of History at York University.

Table of Contents

List of Maps, Tables, and Figures	ix
Abbreviations	xi
Note on Transliteration	xiii
Note on Currency	xv
Acknowledgments	xvii
Introduction	1	(8)
Al-Basrah Al-Fayha'	9	(30)
History up to 1700	9	(2)
Hasan Pasha and the Mamluks	11	(2)
Location and Climate	13	(7)
The City	20	(5)
The People	25	(4)
Administration & Power	29	(10)
The Shifting Fortunes of Trade	39	(18)
Exports	40	(2)
Customs Duties	42	(1)
The Ships and Their Sailors	43	(2)
Basra's Overall Trade Patterns	45	(4)
Rise: 1724-1756	49	(1)
Boom: 1766-1774	50	(4)
Decline: 1775-1793	54	(3)
Networks of Trade	57	(26)
The Maritime Trade with India	57	(6)
The Coffee Trade and the Role of the Omanis	63	(4)
The Regional Trade with the Gulf	67	(5)
The Trade with Southern Persia	72	(2)
The Riverine Trade with Baghdad	74	(3)
The Caravan Trade with Aleppo	77	(6)
The Merchants (Tujjar) and Trade	83	(16)
The Risks of Trade	84	(2)
Investment and Wealth	86	(2)
Credit and Contracts	88	(3)
Merchant Communities	91	(2)
The Jewish Merchants	93	(2)
The Armenian Merchants	95	(1)
The Chalabis of Basra	96	(3)
The Merchants and Power	99	(18)
The Mamluks and Trade	100	(3)
The Chalabis and the Government	103	(1)
The Cases of Muhammad Agha and Hajji Yusuf	104	(4)
The Jews and the Mamluk Administration	108	(1)
The Armenians and the English	109	(1)
The Case of the Murdered Jew Revisited	110	(2)
The Rebellions of Shaykh Thuwayni and Mustafa Agha	112	(2)
Manesty's Victory and the Beginnings of British Dominance	114	(3)
Conclusion	117	(4)
Notes	121	(36)
Bibliography	157	(14)
Index	171