An English Merchant in Ottoman İzmir (Smyrna): William Barker (1731-1825)

Yıl 2020, Cilt: 84 Sayı: 300, 717 - 744, 21.08.2020

Miyase Koyuncu Kaya

https://doi.org/10.37879/belleten.2020.717

Öz

In the eighteenth century, in order to stimulate British trade in the Levant the British Levant Company made such decisions as accepting membership of countrymen. With the benefits of changes in the Company’s rules, William Barker of Derbyshire became a member of the Company and came to İzmir (Smyrna) in 1760 for the purpose of trade and “profit”. Focusing on William Barker’s life, this research examines the rules binding merchants of the Company in Ottoman lands, their relations with both Ottoman subjects and “European” residents in İzmir, the reflections of interstates competitions and conflict on trade in concerned period and their contacts with Ottoman authorities by analysing documents including Barker’s letters to his family, minutes of the Levant Company, records from the Ottoman archives, traveller accounts, and the letters sent by the traders of the Smyrna Factory to the authorities in London. This study sheds light on how economic, political and social conditions of late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in Levant affected European merchants residing in Ottoman lands individually and communally. Not leaving a lucrative trade back in the Ottoman lands where he had started as a merchant without capital and ended up bankrupt, William Barker who resided in İzmir for 65 years until his death left a generation that continued to live in these lands until the middle of the 20th century.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Trade, Levant Company, British merchants, Ottoman Empire, İzmir (Smyrna), Franks (Europeans), William Barker

Osmanlı İzmir’inde Bir İngiliz Tüccar: William Barker (1731-1825)

Öz

İngiliz Levant Kumpanyası, 18.yüzyılda Levant ticaretini canlandırmak için taşralıları da üyeliğe kabul etmek gibi kararlar almıştır. Değişen şartlardan istifade ile Derbyshire’lı William Barker da Levant Kumpanyasına üye olmuş ve 1760 yılında ticaret yapmak ve kazanç elde etmek amacıyla İzmir’e gelmiştir. Bu araştırma, William Barker’ın hayatına odaklanarak, İngiliz tacirlerin tabi oldukları kurallar, Osmanlı tebaası ve diğer Frenklerle ilişkileri, yaşadıkları dönemin devletlerarası rekabet ve mücadelelerinin yansımaları, Osmanlı yetkilileri ile temaslarını; Barker’ın ailesine yazdığı mektuplar, Levant Kumpanyası toplantı tutanakları, Osmanlı arşiv belgeleri, seyyah anlatıları ve Kumpanya tacirlerinin Londra’daki yetkililere gönderdikleri mektupları analiz ederek incelemektedir. Söz konusu çalışma, Levant’ta 18. yüzyıl sonu 19. yüzyıl başlarında ekonomik, siyasi ve sosyal koşulların Osmanlı topraklarında yaşayan Avrupalı tacirleri bireysel ve toplumsal olarak nasıl etkilediğini izah etmektedir. Ölümüne kadar 65 yıl İzmir’de ikamet eden William Barker, sermayesiz bir tacir olarak Osmanlı topraklarında iflasla noktalanan macerasında geriye kârlı bir ticaret değil ama 20.yüzyılın ortalarına kadar bu topraklarda yaşamaya devam eden bir nesil bırakmıştır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Ticaret, Levant Kumpanyası, İngiliz tacirler, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu, İzmir, Frenkler, William Barker

Kaynakça

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