ABSTRACT
As noted in Chapter 4, the notable ascendancy to elected posts in local government correlated to their long-standing dominance in lending and borrowing in Tokat’s informal credit markets. This ascendancy must have aroused complex emotions ranging from esteem to envy among other parts of Tokat’s population. The increasing willingness of notables to lend and borrow as co-investors with the town’s emerging commercial elites probably assuaged such negative sentiments for some who benefi tted from it directly. The following two chapters explore the degrees to which Tokat’s notables remained key investors in the town’s agriculture and industry during the later Tanzimat years.
