Document Type : .

Authors

• Hadi Bayati ¹
• Ahmad Borjlu ²

¹ Assistant professor of history, university of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran

² M.A in history, Kharazmi University , Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The intense economic rivalries between Iran and the Ottomans during the Safavid period are among the issues that overshadowed the relations between the two countries. So that the rulers of the two countries continuously and extensively used economic tools as leverage on each other. One of the economic tools that played an important role in the political and economic relations of the Safavid and Ottoman governments was silk. During this period, silk, as one of the most important currency commodities, always played a major role in the urban economy and domestic and foreign trade of the Safavid and Ottoman governments. Accordingly, the present study uses a descriptive-analytical method to investigate the role of silk as an economic tool in the relations between the Safavid and Ottoman governments. The results of the study indicate that the Safavid and Ottoman governments tried to use various functions of silk and deprive the enemy of its sources of income, to force the other government to change its foreign policy behaviors and to surrender. To force against their wishes.

Keywords

• Silk
• Safavid
• Ottoman
• Armenian
• Political relations

Extended Abstract

 The role of silk trade in Iran-Ottoman relations during the Safavid period

 Introduction

The formation of the Safavid government along with the officialization of the Shia religion in Iran brought the country's relations with the Ottoman government into new dimensions. If during this period, the governments tried to control the roads, commercial ports and economic centers and in this field they went to the limit of war and bloodshed. It was administered locally. Each of the princes and princes, in a corner of this country, claimed independent government in different ways. The founder of the Safavid dynasty in a short period of time eliminated all the rivals and formed a powerful central government, which was very expensive for the Ottoman government, especially since the supporters of the Safavids immigrated to Iran in a group and continuously from Asia Minor. They became a source of worry for the Ottomans. Therefore, the establishment of Safavid rule in 907 A.H., in addition to political and religious conflicts, created intense economic competition between Iran and the Ottoman Empire. So that in the 10th and 11th centuries of the lunar calendar, the rulers of the two countries continuously and extensively used economic issues as a lever of pressure on each other, which brought unfortunate consequences for the residents of the two countries. Among the economic policies that these countries used to advance their foreign policy goals, we can mention the issue of silk trade and how to export it.

In addition, the development of the Ottoman Empire had doubled its geopolitical role in Iran's trade relations, and Iran was deprived of direct communication with Europe, and Iranian and European merchants faced serious problems in commuting. Therefore, in this period, as in the previous periods, there was a significant export of raw silk to the Ottoman Empire, and a large amount of Iranian muskets were imported from the Ottoman territory. However, the great successes of the Ottoman Empire, which coincided with the rise of the Safavid government, had negative effects on the Safavid economy. In order to compensate for these disadvantages, they tried to adopt opposite policies in order to reduce the economic pressures of the Ottoman government to some extent. Based on this, the current research tries to investigate the role of silk trade in the political relations between the Safavid government and the Ottoman Empire by using historical sources and the researches of Turkish historians and to answer the main question of what effect silk has on the political relations of the government. Had Safavid and Ottoman? And what was the reason and motivation for using silk as an economic tool by the mentioned governments?

Methodology: The research method used in this research, in addition to descriptive methods, in some parts of the research, quantitative methods and interpretation methods were also used. In fact, in the current research, an attempt has been made to achieve a significant result in the field of research with the combined method or link between quality and quantity of historical data.

Findings: The results of the research indicate that the Safavid and Ottoman governments were trying to use different functions of silk and depriving the enemy of its sources of income, forcing the opposite government to change its foreign policy behavior and surrender to force against their wishes. Since the silk industry was the most important production of the two countries and was considered one of the most important sources of income in this period, under the influence of these policies, it was negatively affected in terms of production and sales; So that the non-tariff barriers in foreign trade weakened the economic relations between Iran and the Ottoman Empire, which originated from the silk trade.

Discussion and conclusion: During the Safavid period, silk, as one of the most important export and income-generating goods, played an important role in the commercial exchanges between the two Ottoman and Safavid governments. In this period, this product played an essential role as a commercial product in the political and economic relations of the Safavids and the Ottomans, and in a way formed the main pillar of the economy of the two governments. In addition, the expansion of the Ottoman Empire and its dominance over the economic highways caused them to monitor Iran's trade with European countries. During this period, the Ottoman government dominated a large part of the regions and received huge revenues from the passage of merchants. Another point is that during this period, the main stream of gold and silver ornaments entered Iran through the silk trade, and most of it came from the territory of the Ottoman Empire. Based on this, the Ottoman government, due to political-military and religious differences with Iran, always used economic policies such as banning the departure of gold and silver ornaments from its territory, confiscating the property of merchants, and banning the purchase and sale of Iranian silk on the economy. The Safavid government was striking. In contrast, the Safavid government took the following measures to counter the pressures of the Ottoman government: a) monopolizing the sale of silk; b) Paying attention to the increase of silk exports by Armenian merchants; c) Changing the traditional trade route to the north and south of Iran. Therefore, it can be said that since silk was the most important production of the two countries, it was influenced by the policies of the Safavid and Ottoman rulers; So that the decrease in the volume of silk trade led to a decrease in Ottoman tax revenues and the closing of industrial centers, and in contrast to the lack of silk sales and the lack of gold and silver musukkas from the sale of silk, it had many negative economic and political consequences for the Safavid government. The result affected both countries in a negative direction. Also, due to the fact that the pulsating economic pulse and financial income were aimed at each other, these financial policies usually became one of the factors in the formation of conflicts over the interests between the two Ottoman and Safavid governments, which were harmful to both governments. It caused a lot of financial and human losses. In addition, the Ottoman government tried to gain a strategic advantage against Iran by sanctioning the Safavid government's sources of income; But this case had the opposite result, so that the stoppage of the import of muskets from the Ottoman territory and their financial policies against the Safavid government led to the expansion of Iran's political and economic relations with the western governments and, as a result, the increase in the entry of gold and silver muskets into the country. And in contrast to the formation of tense political and economic relations between Iran and the Ottoman Empire, it stopped the import of silk to the Ottoman Empire as a basic commercial commodity from Iran, which increased the domestic silk production of the Ottoman government and reduced the export of muskrats from this country.

Offers:

- Dealing with the effects of silk trade in the political and military developments of the Safavid government

- Dealing with the role of the Safavid government in the relations with the western governments to expand the silk trade

- Dealing with the role of silk producing cities in the silk trade during the Safavid period