or trade pacts were agreed with foreign governments, which provided protection to the home industry and the facility to export its products.
(a) Internal trade
Egypt and Syria were centres of trade and commerce long before the advent of Islam. They maintained fully their centuries-old characteristics in the age of the Mamluks. The Sultan facilitated internal trade as well as foreign trade. Every city of Egypt and Syria had a market. Ibn Baṭṭūṭali writes: ‘Travellers on the Nile need take no provisions with them. There is an uninterrupted chain of bazaars from Alexandria to Cairo, and from Cairo to Aswan in Upper Egypt.’82 He further writes that on the Nile there are thirty-six thousand boats belonging to the Sultan and his subjects, which sail upstream to Upper Egypt and downstream to Alexandria and Damietta laden with goods and profitable merchandise of all kinds.83 From that statement it would appear that the Sultan also took part in the trade. According to Maqrīzī, in one area of Cairo there were fifty-two markets. Indicating the extent of trading activity he notes that, on the road from Ḥusainī to al-Mashhad al-Nafīsī, I found this distance full of shops where different kinds of food, drinks and goods were arranged in such a way that it was a pleasure to see them. One could not count the articles offered there, no question of counting the people engaged in business.’84 In the Mamluk period markets specialized in one type of article. For example, Bāb al-Futūḥ was famous for its foodstuff. There were separate markets for poultry, for ornaments, for arms, etc. Maqrīzī gives detailed descriptions of such markets.85 The Sultan appointed inspectors who visited these markets and checked on prices, quality and weights.86
(b) Foreign trade
Egypt and Syria occupied a central position in foreign trade. In the Middle Ages, Asiatic goods reached the threshold of Europe along three main routes. The first was overland from China, Persia or India, on long caravan trails to southern Russia and Asia Minor. The second came across or up the Tigris-Euphrates valley and reached the Mediterranean on the coast of Syria. The third used the Indian Ocean and Red Sea and then made a short portage across the desert to the Nile and so to Alexandria.87 The third route was used more than the others, as it was safer in the wake of Mongol terrorism. Great city emporia developed on the international caravan and shipping routes, meeting places for trans-shipping and exchange for the export and transit trade centres such as Aidhab, Damietta, Alexandria, etc. Contacts through the crusades increased commercial relations between the Asiatic countries such as Syria and Egypt, and the countries of Europe. Professor Heaton writes in Economic History of Europe: ‘Muhammadanism regarded trade as a worthy occupation, ties of rule and religion facilitated long-distance trade and travel; and since the Asiatic end of the Moslem world possessed many industrial or agricultural skills, and products which were superior to those of the European end, the West benefited by the lessons it learned from its new masters.’88 There is no doubt that the great city emporia and the goods offered there in Syria and Egypt by far surpassed the greatest cities of Western Europe of the late medieval periods such as Venice, Milan, Florence or Paris, in the scale of economic activities. Alexandria was the greatest commercial centre of the Mamluk period. European traders called there to purchase a variety of goods of Indian and Chinese origin. Shirts made in Alexandria were famous in both West and East. Maqrīzī writes that the caravan of traders descended into Alexandria by way of sea and land, and all parts of the world benefited from the shirts produced there. Even India, though it had its own silk industry, used to import them from Alexandria.89
In order to expand foreign trade the Mamluk Sultans made treaties with neighbouring European countries. For example, Ẓāhir Baibars concluded a commercial treaty with Genoa, while Alfonso of Castile and James of Sicily made defensive pacts with the Sultan against invaders.90 Qalāwūn had trade relations with Ceylon.91
During the crusades, bishops tried to use the economic weapon against Muslims by forbidding trade with Egypt and Syria, but they failed in their efforts.92 The necessities of life obliged both parties to maintain trading relations. There were hostelries or funduk in Egypt where the foreign traders could stay overnight and keep their capital.93 These ordinarily comprised lodging quarters, a warehouse, an oven, a bathroom, a chapel and graveyard. The gates were closed each evening and residents locked in for the night.94 Due to the expansion of trade, customs duty became an important source of government income in the Mamluk period.
(c) Partnership (shirkah and muḍārabah)
In this age, foreign or overseas trade was mostly done in partnership; one partner provided capital and the other his labour, and the profit was distributed according to prior agreement. In the words of Goitein, ‘Partnerships of different types and facets were the legal instruments for formal co-operation in both industry and commerce. Employment with a fixed salary, the normal relationship in our own society, was of little scope and importance, and so was investment of capital against fixed interest. Wages and interest were replaced in the Mediterranean society of the eleventh century, as known to us, through the Geniza documents, by income from partnership.’95 Although this remark is about eleventh-century Mediterranean society, there is nothing to indicate that the situation changed in the Mamluk society of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Even in Europe, until the joint stock company appeared in the seventeenth century, partnership was the usual device for uniting two or more persons in an enterprise which could not be undertaken satisfactorily with either the capital or labour of one party.96
According to Ramond de Roover, in the Cambridge economic History of Europe, it appears from Genoese and Venetian records that the two most typical contracts in overseas trade were the ‘commenda’ and the ‘societas maris’; they were called ‘collegantia’ in Venice, but the different name has little, if any, importance. Both agreements were partnership agreements, concluded not for a period of years, but for a single venture or voyage, usually a round trip to the Levant, Africa, Spain or Provence.97 We shall discuss the nature of the different types of partnership in Chapter VII.
For trade and industry the institution of ḥisbah was of prime importance. The officer in charge of this institution was called the muḥtasib. His main duty was general inspection, especially of the operation of the market. He used to check weights and measures, quality of products, maintain fair trade, and be constantly vigilant on prices.98
In the Mamluk period four men were appointed to the post of muḥtasib at the same time: one in Cairo, another in Fustat, the third in Lower Egypt, and the fourth in Alexandria. Each was responsible for the market in his jurisdiction. The muḥtasib of Cairo had the highest position of the four, being equal in rank to the Secretary of Finance.99 We shall examine the economic role of the muḥtasib and his duties in Chapter VII in relation to the role of the state in economic life.
In the monetary system of the Mamluk period, there were three kinds of monetary units – the dīnār (gold), the dirham (silver) and the fals (copper). While the dīnār was very scarce, the fals was the predominant coin. Circulation of dirhams always fluctuated; sometimes they even disappeared. The Mamluks inherited these forms of currency from their predecessors, the Ayyubids. According to Maqrīzī, in the Ayyubid period the dirham was so highly circulated that the dīnār lost its value. All prices were quoted in dirhams, taxes, wages, rents, etc., and all were
