The Baggage Carriers’ Organizations in Eighteenth-Century Istanbul

A Study of their Internal Structure

Abstract

Man/animal power played a large role in pre-modern transportation. Istanbul was no exception, and its gigantic economy always required a workforce of hammals, that is, baggage carriers. Baggage carriers were divided into two occupational organizations, arka hammalları (porters) and at hammalları (mule drivers). These organizations had characteristics different from the normal artisans’guilds, or esnafs. This article discusses how the organizational structure of these organizations was formed and how it worked.

Both organizations consisted of immigrants from the Anatolian region, and, especially, the membership of the porters’ organization was very fluid. Those two organizations were made up of bölüks (subordinate groups) organized around wharves, bazaars, and neighborhoods and were managed by kethüdâs (foremen). The bölüks of the porters’ and the mule drivers’ organizations were united under başkethüdâs (wardens) as occupational groups recognized by the governmental authority.

However, this does not mean the kethüdâs were totally subordinate to the başkethüdâs. The başkethüdâs’ authority was sustained by the kethüdâs’ support and did not involve the operation of bölüks. In some cases, outsiders held the office of başkethüdâ. It can be pointed out that the jurisdiction of the başkethüdâs was limited, and the substantial authority lay with the kethüdâs. The kethüdâs’bölüks were to a certain extent independent of the başketkethüdâs, and the başkethüdâ’s role was mostly just authorizing those groups as parts of the organization through the kefâlet (surety system).

The bölüks had designated territories that could not be infringed by outsiders, including other subordinate groups of the same organization. The bölüks could not enter other bölüks’ territories. These were set by the bylaws, and their boundaries were defined by space, goods, and routes. It can be said that the bölüks were in a competitive relationship with each other.

Thus, autonomy and a competitive relationship are the characteristics of the porters’ and mule drivers’ organizations. In this, we may be able to discern the socioeconomic structure of the early-modern Ottoman laborers’ society.