Abstract:

Entrepreneurship in the Ottoman Empire is mostly evaluated in a single period and as a whole. These evaluations, which are made without considering the archive records sufficiently, result in the expansion of entrepreneurship in the last period of the Empire to cover all periods. From this point of view, it is frequently stated that entrepreneurship in the Ottoman Empire was in the hands of non-Muslims and foreigners, and that there was no Muslim Turkish entrepreneurial class. However, when the evaluations are made by considering the archive records, it is seen that the evidence that can answer these claims has begun to be reached. Mühimme registers, in which the decisions of the Divan-ı Hümayun are recorded, are at the forefront of these archive records. It is seen that these records contain clues that can explain the entrepreneurial profile of the period (1605-1702). As a result of the content analysis of the mühimme notebooks, it was found that there was a strong Muslim Turkish entrepreneurial class in the Ottoman Empire in the 17th century.

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