Abstract
NARRATIVES SHAPED AROUND TOBACCO SMUGGLERS AND WATCHMEN IN TRABZON PROVINCE
Brought from the New World during the geographical discoveries tobacco had become one of the major agricultural products of the World. In the 17th century, tobacco started to be an agricultural product in demand in the Ottoman geography. Despite the fact that, the consumption of tobacco is banned with acts brought into force at intervals, the rapidly expanding market in and around the imperial territories influenced the emergence of new tobacco plantations in the Ottoman territories. In the early 18th century, the tobacco production sought into the Eastern Blacksea Region of the empire. During the end of the century, tobacco became a strategic product as a result of the weakening of the state in terms of politics and economy, as the colonizing countries attempted to confiscate the sources of the empire. Starting from the last quarter of the 19th century, the Western countries and the financial circles in relation to them, who had controlled the tobacco planting with stage management (Reji) they established, started to dominate the tobacco producers. The Anatolian farmers, who were desperate because of this domination, had to sell their product to the smugglers. The smuggling activities, which gradually increased in spite of the efforts of the Reji management who tackled with the smugglers with the help of watchmen, continued at a low pace after the closure of Reji. Tobacco, smugglers, and the watchmen who tackled with them, became the subject matter of Trabzon folk songs, as well as folk narratives. While these narratives had been passing from generation to generation, not only some others were added within the course of time, but also the existing narratives had some variations. This study aims to analyze the narratives, gathered with the field studies around Trabzon, and mentioning the tobacco smuggling, as well as the struggles between the smugglers and the watchmen, in terms of their social, economic and cultural dimensions.
Keywords
Trabzon, Tobacco, Reji, watchman organization.