Osmanlı Egemenliği’nin İlk Yıllarında Resmo Bağları
The Vineyards of Rethymno in the First Years of Ottoman Rule
abstract
Being an important stop of the Levant trade of the Serenissima, Crete was a strategic place for the trade of wine across the Mediterranean. While the fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries were the golden age of Cretan viniculture, when Crete passed from the Venetian to the Ottoman rule, the agricultural economy and the export potential of the island witnessed a significant transformation and the production of wine began to decline. According to previous studies wine was replaced by olive oil and soap. However, recent research has shown that this was a change which had begun already under the Venetian rule. During the Ottoman rule, the vineyards of Crete and wine production continued, although somehow limited. In this article the Ottoman legislation concerning viniculture in Crete after the Ottoman conquest will be presented.
Keywords: Crete • Rethymno • Vineyards • Venetian • Ottoman