In the Absence of Domestic Currency: Debased European Coinage in the Seventeenth–Century Ottoman Empire

In: The journal of economic history, Volume 57, Issue 2, p. 345-366

Abstract

The Near East was subject to many of the same fiscal and monetary forces that affected Europe and parts of Asia during the early modem era. For almost two decades during the seventeenth century, debased European coinage circulated widely in Ottoman markets at values far above their specie content. This article provides an explanation in terms of Ottoman fiscal deficits, currency instability, currency substitution, and decline in local silver mines all of which led to the closure of mints. The reasons behind the conspicuous absence of Ottoman copper coinage during this period are also explored.