ABSTRACT
Four or five decades ago, 'The Islamic City' was a convenient and widely used label that owed its origin to the fact that scholars of the Middle East noticed certain structures and functions common to cities that had historically belonged to Islamic polities. The forms and functions of these cities were heavily influenced by the circumstances of their founding, their locations, climatic factors and, of course, the precedents set by the cities of earlier polities. The military impetus behind certain of these cities carried over to their layouts. Many cities were centred on a military fortress, or citadel, where the city's main body of troops was garrisoned and where the city's military governor held council. The commerce in coffee, in short, gave rise to a whole cultural complex, ranging from elite provincial households to popular gathering places and forms of entertainment. It is perhaps the most dramatic example of the manner in which trade shaped Ottoman social life.
