The Freight Reckoning at Bozöyük Caravanserai

≈ 9 min

Bozöyük Caravanserai serves as the principal waystation on the Bursa–Ankara road and collects porterage and storage fees on behalf of the İstanbul-based trading house of Çakır & Sons. Mehmed Ağa Demir, the counting-house muhasebeci, has submitted a freight reckoning for the caravan of Merchant Selim Arslanoğlu, which arrived on 14 Ağustos 1306 (26 August 1890). The Ottoman Board of Trade governs all porterage rates via its published Tarife-i Nakliyat, and a copy is held at the caravanserai. The Çakır & Sons regional factor, Hüseyin Efendi, has asked an independent auditor to verify Mehmed Ağa's reckoning before the final sum is drawn on the company's Bursa account.

The scene

Bozöyük Caravanserai counting house, Ottoman Anatolia, 1890

Source documents

Ottoman Board of Trade — Tarife-i Nakliyat, Chapter IV: Caravanserai Storage Rates (1888 edition)
Gate Tally of Bozöyük Caravanserai — Arslanoğlu Caravan, 14 Ağustos 1306
Magazine Survey — Bozöyük Caravanserai, 17 Ağustos 1306
Letter from Hüseyin Efendi, Çakır & Sons Factor, to Head Office, İstanbul — dated 18 Ağustos 1306

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