Local Intermediaries and Insular Space in late-18th century Ottoman Cyprus

Abstract

Contributing to the discussions on the reconfigurations of wealth and power in the Ottoman Empire between the mid-eighteenth and the mid-nineteenth century, this article considers the cases of three provincial notables in a provincial setting: Hadjiyorgakis Kornesios, dragoman of Cyprus; the muhassıl (tax-farming governor) Hacı Abdülbaki Ağa; and the Armenian consular dragoman-cum-merchant Sarkis. Seeking analytical categories that move beyond a rigid center/province dicho- tomy, this article makes an initial attempt towards articulating an alternative scheme for understanding imperial space, and move beyond a spatial imagination confined to conventional administrative organization. Utilizing the Braudelian concept of ‘minia- ture continents’  allows an envisioning of the Cypriot insularity that sheds light on the nature of economic relations, modes of production, and patterns of concentration of the rural surplus. The three local intermediaries examined here are ideal case studies that can facilitate, or indeed instigate, this sort of inquiry.