The Trading Companies Rallis and Zafiris in the Long 19th Century: A Contribution to the Global History of the Ottoman Empire

Anna Vlachopoulou

The project investigates the social, economic and transcultural entanglements between the Ottoman Empire and regions of Western Europe, Russia, and Asia. It takes the trading houses of the Greek families Rallis and Zarifis as a vantage point to scrutinise the mobility of people, capital, raw materials and goods between different world regions during the development of global capitalism in the long 19th century. By focusing on the social and cultural histories of these transimperial dynasties of entrepreneurs as well as their transimperial (or rather transottoman) biographies the project pursues the following objectives: First, it adds to a broader scholarly discourse aiming at a better understanding of the history of globalisation by interpreting regional connections and complementary spatial relations anew. Second, it explores the political and social contexts in which the Rallis and Zarifis families built their trading empires. Therefore, the project will examine the agency of important Ottoman protagonists taking part in transnational and worldwide economic interactions as well as their relationships with other interested parties like the Greek trading communities abroad.