The Monetary and Banking System in Tunisia During the Ottoman Era -A Historical Study of the Local Currency Coexistence System.-

Abstract

This study endeavors to address a significant yet seldom-explored subject within the historical scholarship in Tunisia during the Ottoman era namely  ‘'the Monetary and Banking System" throughout the period extending from the integration of Tunisia into the Ottoman Empire under the designation of the 'Beylik of Tunis' starting in 1574 AD. This study seeks to elucidate the diverse monetary and banking systems that prevailed in Ottoman Tunisia and their relation with the foreign currencies regardless of potential disruptions to the state's established financial policies.

Notwithstanding the political and economic challenges that Tunisia endured throughout the Hafsid era, the banking and monetary activities had been continued using the Hafsid currency. Hence we may raise the following questions: Did the lingering influence of the Hafsid financial system constitute an obstacle to the Ottoman monetary and banking system implemented in Tunisia following its annexation? And how did the local population along with other societal groups adapt to this new economic reality instituted by the Ottoman authorities in the Tunisian territories?

     In this research, we have relied on a significant corpus of diverse historical sources and material relevant to the subject of study. These crucial sources are a number of select documents taken from the registers of the Tunisian National Archives, most of which pertain to the circulation of various currencies. Key textual sources include: "Ithāfahl al-zamān bi-akhbārmulūkTūniswa-'ahd al-amān " by Aḥmad ibn Abī al-Ḍiyāf, specifically volumes II and VII, and "Al-Mu'nisfīakhbārIfrīqiyawa-Tūnis" by Ibn Abī Dīnār, and "Nuzhat al-anẓārfī 'ajā'ib al-tawārīkhwa-al-akhbār " by Maḥmūd ibn Sa'īd al-Maqdīsh, and Journey to Tunis) 1724) by André Paysonnal.

     This present study has drawn upon several pertinent and notable references, which are Jews of the Land and Jews of Finance in Ottoman Tunisi by Riḍā ben Rajeb, and The Ottoman Regence of Tunis in Light of the Legal Opinions of Ibn Aadoum [1574-1600 CE]) by Professor Aḥmad Qassim, and The Regence of Tunis in the Seventeenth Century and Its Commercial Relations with Mediterranean Ports – Marseille and Livorno by Professor Boubaker Sadek.

     As any historical study, the researcher must adopt a specific methodology to establish the foundations of their inquiry. This applies to our current research, which adopts a historical method as its primary framework for investigating the present topic. This is complemented by auxiliary research tools including a narrative and descriptive analysis, statistics, and inductive reasoning.

This research study has concluded with a set of findings inherited Spanish currencies like the "Crown" and the "Real", a system which facilitated the concurrent use of diverse currencies—both old and newly minted—across most transactions, particularly commercial ones

Key words : The Regency of Tunis,  Monetary and Banking System, Ottoman Era, Local Currency.