The Ottoman Slave Trade and Its Suppression: 1840-1890

by Ehud R. Toledano

This book is a historical account of the slave trading system of the Ottoman Empire in the second half of the nineteenth century and of the attempts, which were eventually successful, to suppress it.

Originally published in 1983.

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Genres: History

324 pages, Hardcover

First published December 12, 1982

About the author

Ehud R. Toledano (Hebrew: אהוד טולידאנו; born 1949) is an Israeli historian of the Ottoman Empire and the modern Middle East. He is professor emeritus of Middle Eastern history at Tel Aviv University, where he held the University Chair for Ottoman and Turkish Studies and co-directed the Program in Ottoman and Turkish Studies. He is known primarily for his work on slavery and the slave trade in the Ottoman Middle East and for his research on Ottoman–Arab socio-political and socio-cultural history, including his thesis that Ottoman and local elites in the Arab provinces merged into "Ottoman-local" elites.

Reviews

[AE Campbell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very narrow in scope and timeframe. The main thesis is that the Ottomans tolerated or cooperated with British efforts regarding the African slave trade but viewed the importation of Circassians and Georgians as an internal matter. Frankly a little boring outside a few interesting comments on dealing with massive Circassian migration and Arabian leaders using pro-slavery as a pretext for local autonomy. Perhaps most interesting is the author's estimation that, as of 1982, only ten percent of the Ottoman state archives had been cataloged.