An Aga, A Merchant and A Woman:Shipbuilding at XIXth Century Tirebolu

We know that there were shipbuilding yards and ship craftsmen at the shores of Ottoman Empire since Imperial Arsenal get help from those yards at times of great military campaigns. But our knowledge about their ongoing shipbuilding process out of military purposes is limited. This article focuses on the struggle of a Tirebolu habitant named Hadice against shipbuilders and owners of the boats being built on a seashore land of hers. Details of the struggle among them provide information about centre and province relations, Tanzimat’s legal system changes and it’s reflections to provincial area, relations between different social classes and civilian shipbuilding sector. Analyzing of these information enables us to ask new questions. Place of seashore lands at Ottoman land law, effect of increasing global maritime navigation on naval activities of small coastal towns, XIXth century Ottoman maritime regulations and its reflections to countryside etc are only a small numbers of such questions.