Abstract:

The Small Meander Basin is a geography where there has been market-oriented agricultural production since the 19th century. Besides, the topographic structure, climate and water sources are the fundamental criteria that provide cannabis production. Cotton, tobacco, and grape and cannabis are important crops in the agricultural production this basin. However, the cannabis production and trade were in the shadow of those of cotton and tobacco. As a matter of fact, this basin was the second cannabis production center after the Western Black Sea. This study observes the history of cannabis production in the Small Meander Basin with social dimensions. Thus, the roles of ordinary people in cannabis growing, trade, and the production of rope are enlightened. It benefited from the archives of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, national and local press, the data of the Turkish Statistical Institute, and secondary sources. Using parliamentary minutes, the government politics in cannabis agriculture is discussed. Local and National press shed light on the daily lives of ordinary people. The secondary sources which, are a considerable part published in the 1930s and the 1940s give academic point of view to the social history of cannabis.

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