ABSTRACT
Vast numbers of �ttoman subjects �or�ed in either subsistence or commercial te�tile production, dra�ing on the ready a�ailability of cotton, �ool, sil� and ��a� to ma�e goods both for their o�n use and for the mar�et. �here is little doubt that most rural dwellers spun, wove or embroidered and this likely also was true of urban families. The number of persons spinning and weaving for personal consumption declined �ith the rise of imported te�tiles after 18�� (see belo�) �hile market production likely increased during this same period. A few crude statistics give some notion of the importance of commercially made textiles in the overall economy at the �ery end of the �ttoman period. �n the e�e of the First �orld �ar, workers making textiles for the marketplace accounted for about one-half of the enumerated labour force in the total manufacturing sector.1 Manufacturing overall contributed about 10 per cent of ‘national income’ while agriculture, according to these very incomplete surveys, reportedly contributed more than 50 per cent.2 This former figure surely is a gross underreporting since the sur�ey missed many urban locations of manufacture and most of the rural-based industry.
