Slavery and Slave Prices in the Crimean Khanate (According to Religious Court Records)

Year 2019, Volume: 1 Issue: 1, 59 - 72, 22.08.2019

Nuri Kavak

Abstract

Before the
Crimean Khanate was established, the world-famous slave markets of the Latin
Kingdoms, the Byzantine Empire and the Russians had long been on the Black Sea
coast and north of the Black Sea. In other words, when the Crimean Khanate
became an important state in the mentioned geography, it found the slave
markets and the economic benefits that they created. The high return of the
slave trade has become increasingly attractive. In particular, the hardship of
the Ottoman Empire in the procurement of slaves by the end of the raiding
activities encouraged the Crimean Tatars. In the following period, they became
one of the important actors of the slave market.

It is seen that
in the tereke records in the Crimean Khanate Sharia Records and some records of
hüccet are frequently mentioned from slaves and concubines. The need and use of
slave labor, the commercial relations created by the exchange as a commercial
commodity, and the record of the disputes and the ways and methods of emancipation
show the extent of the matter. Our study aims to illuminate the commercial
sales prices and the position of the slaves in the Crimean Khanate. 

Keywords

Crimean Khanate, Ottoman Empire, Crimean Peninsula, Slave

References

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