A typological study in the light of British and Ottoman archival documents: Emanuel Falkeisen

In the city of Bursa, the old capital of the Ottoman State, manufactories began to be established from the late 1830s to supply the raw silk thread needed for the silk industry in Western Europe. In Turkish literature on the subject, which is mainly based on a few sources, the name Falkeisen stands out among the first founders of these manufactories. However, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the information about Falkeisen in Turkish sources consists of only a few sentences. During our ongoing research at the National Archives in London, we came across some archival documents mentioning the name Falkeisen. At the same time, we conducted research on the subject in the Ottoman official archives. This study presents information found in previously unexamined British and Ottoman official archive documents about Falkeisen. The findings we obtained pave the way for a typology of him. Essentially, it can be said that he was not a merchant-consul but a capitalist.