The British In The Levant

For more than two centuries following its formation in 1581, the Levant Company enjoyed a monopoly of British trade with the Ottoman Empire and provided Britain's diplomatic representation at the Sultan's court and throughout the Ottoman territories. Rather than focusing on 'the Turkey trade' itself, or on the merchants who engaged in it, Christine Laidlaw examines the supporting cast of Britons - officials, clergymen, physicians and accompanying family members - who lived and worked alongside the merchants at the Company's three principal trading posts at Istanbul, Izmir and Aleppo during the eighteenth century. This unique perspective will be invaluable for historians of the eighteenth century and the Ottoman Empire.

This book explores the concept of ‘the Levant’ as a component of the regional and international system during the age of imperialism. At its heart is a focus on the experience of Greek-speaking societies and, above all, the independent state of Greece that came into existence in 1830. A key sub-theme running through the account is the Anglo-Hellenic connection stemming from an enhanced British presence in the Eastern Mediterranean from the 1830s and 1840s, and in particular its relationship to the Greek polity. Within this framework the emergence of the idea of ‘Greater Greece’ is integrated into the narrative, including its regional reverberations and ethnic tensions. Other contributions examine trade and finance, gender issues, colonialism and the distinctive experience of Cyprus. The core of the volume deals centrally with three interlocking themes: modernity, nationalism and trans-nationalism. Ultimately these forces were to prove at odds with the ambiguity and elite structures that characterized the Levant in its nineteenth-century heyday. The book analyses the evolution, and increasing definition from the late 1950s, of Greece’s modern European identity, while taking into account the magnetic force of other relationships and regional links. This treatment connects with the choices and dilemmas facing Greece and its surrounding region, which contemporary crises invariably throw into relief. It will be of interest both to specialised historians and students of current affairs seeking to understand the broader historical context.

Britain's Levantine Empire, 1914-1923 explains the rise and decline and nature and extent of British military rule in the urban eastern Mediterranean during the course of the First World War and its aftermath. Combining novel case studies and theoretical approaches, the volume reveals the extent of military control that Britain established and anticipated maintaining in the post-Ottoman world, before a series of confrontations with nationalist and socialist anti-imperialists forced a new division of the eastern Mediterranean, still visible in the political borders of the present day. Britain's Levantine Empire, 1914-1923 tells this story through the eyes and ears of the British servicemen who built this empire, analysing the testimony of over 100 such military personnel sent to Alexandria, Thessaloniki, Istanbul, and the towns and islands between them, as they voyaged, made camp, and explored and patrolled the city streets. Whereas histories examining soldiers' experiences in the First World War have almost exclusively focused on their lives at the frontlines, this study provides a much needed in-depth history of soldiers' experience and impact on the urban hubs of the Eastern Mediterranean, where urban planning, nightlife and entertainment, policing, and security were transformed by the presence of so many men at arms and the imperialist interventions that accompanied them.

A Commerce of Knowledge tells the story of three generations of Church of England chaplains who served the English Levant Company in Syria during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Reconstructing the careers of its protagonists in the cosmopolitan city of Ottoman Aleppo, Simon Mills investigates the links between English commercial and diplomatic expansion, and English scholarly and missionary interests: the study of Middle-Eastern languages; the exploration of biblical and Greco-Roman antiquities; and the early dissemination of Protestant literature in Arabic. Early modern Orientalism is usually conceived as an episode in the history of scholarship. By shifting the focus to Aleppo, A Commerce of Knowledge brings to light the connections between the seemingly separate worlds, tracing the emergence of new kinds of philological and archaeological enquiry in England back to a series of real-world encounters between the chaplains and the scribes, booksellers, priests, rabbis, and sheikhs they encountered in the Ottoman Empire. Setting the careers of its protagonists against a background of broader developments across Protestant and Catholic Europe, Mills shows how the institutionalization of English scholarship, and the later English attempt to influence the Eastern Christian churches, were bound up with the international struggle to establish a commercial foothold in the Levant. He argues that these connections would endure until the shift of British commercial and imperial interests to the Indian subcontinent in the second half of the eighteenth century fostered new currents of intellectual life at home.

The first newspapers in the Ottoman lands generally focused on commercial and financial news, but as the time passed, they developed a richer content portfolio with a wider range of topics. The Levant Herald (1856-1914) was one of the long-lasting newspapers issued by British subjects under Ottoman rule. From this perspective, it witnessed the Empire’s last decades. Although The Levant Herald was published in Ottoman territory, it also circulated in Europe and Britain. Due to this, the newspaper had a somewhat international character. The main purpose of the newspaper was to give news concerning the financial, commercial and economic developments in the Near East, the Levant in particular, and to highlight the investment opportunities in the region. It was aimed at not only the British Levantine groups in the Ottoman territory and their local and commercial partners, but also the entire European community that had settled in the east. The proprietors of the newspaper changed several times during its lifecycle and due to the regular threat of closure, it had to be issued under different names. The names that the newspaper used were as follows: The Levant Herald, The Constantinople Messenger, The Eastern Express, The Levant Herald & Eastern Express.

Olga Tufnell (1905–85) was a British archaeologist working in Egypt, Cyprus and Palestine in the 1920s and 1930s, a period often described as a golden age of archaeological discovery. For the first time, this book presents Olga’s account of her experiences in her own words. Based largely on letters home, the text is accompanied by dozens of photographs that shed light on personal experiences of travel and dig life at this extraordinary time. Introductory material by John D.M. Green and Ros Henry provides the social, historical, biographical and archaeological context for the overall narrative. The letters offer new insights into the social and professional networks and history of archaeological research, particularly for Palestine under the British Mandate. They provide insights into the role of foreign archaeologists, relationships with local workers and inhabitants, and the colonial framework within which they operated during turbulent times. This book will be an important resource for those studying the history of archaeology in the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly for the sites of Qau el-Kebir, Tell Fara, Tell el-‘Ajjul and Tell ed-Duweir (ancient Lachish). Moreover, Olga’s lively style makes this a fascinating personal account of archaeology and travel in the interwar era.

The Levant Company in England was first established in 1592 to help regulate trade with Turkey and the Levant area. Originally published in 1908, this study details the early origins of the company as well as providing information on surrounding issues such as the regulation of shipping, piracy and the officials of the company. This title will be of interest to students of history and business.

First Published in 1964. The main purpose of this study is to look at the many sides of the Levant Company from its foundation, the early years of 1583 to 1605 and to its decline in the 1830s. The Levant Company was an English chartered company with Elizabeth I of England approving its initial charter on 11 September 1592, in order to maintain trade and political alliances with the Ottoman Empire. It includes manuscripts from the Public Record Office, printed materials and documented voyages and travels.