Artisans, Ottoman and post-Ottoman - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
[Article]
Quataert, Donald
Leiden
Brill
(3,348 words)
Artisans in Ottoman and post-Ottoman times were workers commercially engaged in the hand manufacture of goods; they worked in homes, workshops, and, sometimes, large factories. Large-scale hand manufacturing fluctuated over time and place, but it was a regular feature of the Ottoman artisanal landscape and has persisted into the contemporary era, despite ongoing mechanisation of production in nearly every industrial sector. The term "artisan" implies both a certain level of skill and an end product that is chiefly handmade. Beginning in the nineteenth century, several trends affected artisans.