The Trade Centers Of The Southern Black Sea Region And The International Trade Relations Of Azerbaijan Before The Ottoman Invasion

Abstract

Till the 1450s, the Ottoman Empire had no serious influence on the Black Sea coast yet. The Republics of Genoa and Venice, special trade colonies of on the shores of the Black Sea, were more active in commercial activities. The main trade Genoaese colony was the city of Kaffa, located in the Crimea. In the middle of the 15th century, European merchants tried to buy raw silk, imported from Azerbaijan, in the main trading centers of Genoa, Constantinople, and the Southern Black Sea region. The raw silk, imported from Gilan, Astrabad, Lahijan and Mazandaran, was bought by European merchants as a high-quality raw material in the listed trading centers. In the second half of the 15th century, the advance of the Ottoman empire to the west and the subsequent conquest of important trade centers in the Black Sea, Mediterranean and Aegean seas, where they traded with European countries, dealt a blow to the silk trade of Azerbaijan.