ABSTRACT
To understand why and how the Ottoman state enacted administrative reforms in towns such as Tokat during the mid nineteenth century, it is also necessary to survey the conditions of industrial production that prevailed in the years leading up to the Tanzimat. The Yeúilırmak River watershed that encompasses Tokat, Amasya, and Samsun was a center of copper, textile, and leather working in the late Ottoman period. Tokat’s copper smelting, in particular, was a fl agship industry that mobilized diverse urban, rural, and tribal populations in a productive way. The chief architects of this trade were merchants and notables who bound local interest groups to patronage networks.
