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17th
International Architecture Exhibition
La Biennale di Venezia
Pavilion of Turkey
22/05—21/11/2021
SALE D'ARMI, ARSENALE
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ESSAY3
CARRYING
THE BURDEN
OF THE CITY:
“WORKING ANIMALS”
FROM THE
OTTOMANS
TO THE
PRESENT DAY
Onur İnal
CARRYING THE BURDEN OF THE CITY: “WORKING ANIMALS” FROM THE OTTOMANS TO THE PRESENT DAY
Onur İnal
Published on
16/09/2021
Keywords
MORE-THAN-HUMAN HISTORY, WORKING ANIMALS, ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY
Published on
16/09/2021
Keywords
MORE-THAN-HUMAN HISTORY, WORKING ANIMALS, ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY

The role of animals in socio-economic, cultural, and spatial changes experienced in cities during the modernization period from the Ottoman Empire to the present day is usually ignored. In the writing of urban biographies, people are seen as the primary components of the city; they are the main actors that give way to all kinds of changes and transformations in the city. However, as much as the relations of people with each other and with the more than human components of the city, the reciprocal relations of the city with its four-legged inhabitants are also important; in the fulfillment of all kinds of activities and services in the city, in production-labor relations, in the redefinition and shaping of the urban space. In other words, the non–human animal inhabitants of the city are fundamental elements of city life, as well as being important –yet silent– actors of administrative, social, economic, cultural, and physical changes and transformations in the modernization process. In short, through their intuition, actions, or inactions, animals have played an important role in reshaping Turkey’s human geography and urban spaces from the past to the present. With the conceptual framework presented by Human-Animal Studies, which has emerged as an interdisciplinary research area and developed rapidly at the end of the century, and from the perspective of the “animal turn,” it is possible to consider animals as actors and agents with the capacity to shape and transform history, rather than being marginal figures of history.1

In this article, I aim to demonstrate that working animals, which have been one of the important components of the non-human history of Anatolian cities, are a part of the history, anthropology, geography, and sociology of the city in the framework of the modernization process from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic while offering a critical look at the human–animal dichotomy and the anthropocentric approach. First off, I should state that the definition of working animals describes a variety of animals that have been assigned different tasks, including single hoofed animals such as horses, donkeys, mules, and hinnies as well as cloven-hoofed animals such as buffalo, oxen, and camels. It is possible to divide working animals into three categories according to the tasks they undertake: in the first category, there are draft animals, which are mainly used in transportation, that perform the task of pulling a wheeled vehicle with straps and ropes wrapped around various parts of their body. The second category includes riding animals that do not have a carriage in tow, which are used for sport, entertainment, or transportation purposes. The last category is pack animals, whose labor is used in the transportation of goods and gear. It is possible to include horses of different breeds, sizes, and characteristics in all three of these categories. While oxen, buffalo, and bulls were used as draft animals in cities; donkeys, mules, hinnies, and camels were used as riding or pack animals. On the other hand, carriages pulled by animals often carried goods as well; therefore, it is impossible to precisely separate these categories or the duties and responsibilities of working animals.

Rulers, investors, and merchants in Ottoman cities considered domination over working animals to be legitimate and viable. As a result, these animals had become a component of urban spaces since the early modern period. The increase in the urban use of working animals since the seventeenth century, due to the increase in the population in the cities, the expansion of the trade volume, and the acceleration of mobility –in the Ottoman Empire as well as in various parts of the world-- can be evaluated in the context of human domination and the exploitation of other living/inanimate beings.

Horse-drawn steam pump of the Ottoman Fire Brigade. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Abdul-Hamid II Collection. LOT 9521, no. 29.

Starting from the Ottomans up until recently, the horse was the primary working animal that performed various tasks from public health to security, logistics to consumption, cleaning, and even entertainment. Long before other draft animals, horses shared urban public spaces with people; they provided city dwellers with cheap, even free, labor. Horses were the locomotive of the economy for a long time in periods when motorized vehicles and electricity had not yet been invented or had become widely available; they were used as a means of transport in the city and at short distances between cities, connecting both the different regions within the city and the cities with the rural production centers. In almost every city in Anatolia, artisans and shopkeepers ranging from bakers to butchers, from loggers to milkmen, carried goods and provided their services with horses. Horses were also often used in postal services to deliver urgent correspondence from one place to another. However, horse-drawn carriages did not become a widespread form of urban passenger transport until the mid-eighteenth century, and going on horseback from one part of the city to another remained a privilege for dignitaries of rank for many years. In other words, almost all of the people living in cities went to their destination on foot. In parallel with Westernization, horse-drawn carriages started to gain popularity during the Tulip period. Horse-drawn carriages, which were at first a privilege reserved for statesmen, were also used by other segments of society by the beginning of the nineteenth century, from the period of Mahmud II. The usage of carriages grew even more due to the increasing numbers of British and French citizens in Istanbul during the Crimean War. Besides horse-drawn carriages such as clarence, phaeton, landau, and paşarol, carriages pulled by two oxen called koçu also began to be seen frequently on the streets of Istanbul.2

The horse-drawn tram period began on July 31, 1871, when the Azapkapı-Galata-Tophane-Beşiktaş line went into service. These trams were pulled by strong horses that came to be known as the ‘katana’ breed, specially brought from Hungary. One horse could sufficiently pull the tram on the straight routes following the Bosphorus coast, while two or even four horses were required for uphill routes. Backup horses were kept in makeshift stables set up on the foot of the hills for this task, and the stablemen posted at these stables used to hitch the backup horses to the tram car and bring them back to the stables after the tram climbed the slope.3 Another city where horse-drawn trams were used in the late period of the Ottoman Empire was Izmir. In 1866, horse-drawn trams were used to transport goods and passengers from the railway station built in Alsancak (Punta) to the port in the Konak district of Izmir, which was connected to the fertile hinterland of western Anatolia via the railway. The number of trams commissioned on the Alsancak-Konak route, which was drawn by a single horse when it went into service in 1876, had reached 25 by the 1900s.4 With the Karşıyaka–Göztepe tram route going into service in 1886, followed by Karşıyaka–Naldöken, Karşıyaka–Soğukuyu and Karşıyaka-Bostanlı tram lines in 1906, Izmir became a city full of horse-drawn trams. While horse-drawn trams made their last tour in the streets of Istanbul in 1912, they continued to operate in Izmir until 1935.5 Horse-drawn trams were also used in Konya, an important settlement in Central Anatolia, whose importance was further increased with the arrival of the Baghdad railway in 1895. The horses of the Konya tram line were brought from Thessaloniki, where trams had begun to be run by electric power instead of horses. In Konya, the transportation of people and goods by horse-drawn trams started in 1917 and continued until the 1930s.6

Donkeys, mules, and hinnies also have a special place among working animals that have existed alongside horses, were used for their labor, and have worked since the Ottomans to the present day in Istanbul and Anatolian cities. In Anatolian cities, where the streets were too stony for automobiles or too narrow for camels to pass, loads were delivered from one place to another, thanks to these strong members of the equine family. For example, in Izmir, where almost every family owned a donkey in the nineteenth century, there were donkey stations in different parts of the city.7 Donkeys, mules, and hinnies were used to transport goods, fruit and vegetables, water, and other supplies, and municipal services such as garbage collection until the end of the last century. In addition, donkey, mule, and hinny labor were undeniably important in transporting construction materials such as stone, brick, soil, and hauling construction waste. While the need for pack animals was constantly increasing in parallel with the modernization of cities and growth in population and consumption, the barns, stables, and shelters within the city limits were gradually decreasing in numbers and could not meet the demand. Thousands of single-hooved animals raised in villages had been transported to cities. The dependence of cities on villages for animal supply can be better understood when we consider that mules and hinnies are hybrid animals that are usually sterile. When the supply exceeded the demand, donkeys, mules, and hinnies were either sent back to the villages or set loose in uninhabited areas around the cities. As a result, even today, many uninhabited islands are popularly called ‘Donkey Island’-the most famous being the island in the Çeşme District of Izmir.

Donkeys being transported to Izmir by train at the beginning of the 20th century. Levantine Heritage Foundation Archive.

While horses, donkeys, mules, and hinnies carried the burden of cities in Anatolia and the Middle East on their backs, the most important means of transportation in the countryside were camels. In Syria, Hejaz, and Egypt, caravans of thousands of camels were used regularly to carry goods between long distances. Camels also played an important part in exporting products to Europe, especially before the railway. They carried light yet valuable products such as silk, wool, mohair, and spices from production centers to port cities such as Izmir, Samsun, and Trabzon.8 Although the camel was a symbol of Middle Eastern deserts and Anatolian steppes, it was not unusual for a train of camels to pass through the winding, narrow streets of Ottoman cities. Camel caravans had been seen frequently in ‘the gateway city’ Izmir, Anatolia’s portal to the Mediterranean, since the 17th century. Camels entering the city from the “Caravan Bridge” would go to inns near the port area to load goods. Similarly, inns and caravanserais were built for the accommodation of camels and cameleers in many Anatolian cities from Bursa to Erzurum, from Ankara to Diyarbakır, and they were integral parts of the urban spaces until the last period of the Empire.

Camels have also been seen frequently in Istanbul, the capital city, because camel caravans carried charcoal and coal from nearby villages to Istanbul households. After crossing Büyükçekmece Lake, camels crossing Devebağırtan Hill entered through the city walls and unpacked their loads at inns called “camel inn.” The largest of the inns the camels and cameleers boarded was in the Fatih district. Camels were also an integral part of the Ottoman palace. For centuries, camels had been kept in the palace stables. These stables were not located in the palace but in a building called Fil Damı [The Elephant Roof] in Bakırköy.9 (The structure was given this name because elephants sent to the palace as gifts from India and Iran were also kept here.) The external service division responsible for Hassa (elite) camels in the palace service were called cameleers, and the person in charge of this company was called head cameleer. Hassa camels belonged in one of three categories: sacrificial camels, draft camels carrying supplies at imperial campaigns, and surre camels. Before the Tanzimat, one of the Hassa camels’ tasks was to pass through the streets of Istanbul to deliver the money sent from the provincial treasuries to the Treasury at Topkapı Palace. Surre camels carried bags of money from Istanbul to Mecca and Medina every year.10

Camels carrying charcoal from Edirne entering Istanbul, the 1890s Source: Pierre de Gigord Collection, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Inventory No: 96.R.14.

It is not possible to consider the exploitation of working animals and the utilization of their labor independently of technological developments and the spatial arrangement processes of the modern city. As technologies developed, beginning in the late nineteenth-century, steam power, and electrical energy started to be used along with carriages and wagons were drawn by animal power. Also, because modernization describes itself as an effort to present what is new and superior to the traditional; it is worth emphasizing that modern urban people have become increasingly uncomfortable with the presence, smell, and appearance of animals. Modern developments in transportation have had a significant share in the fact that working animals and urban spaces such as the animal bazaar, barn, shed, roof, and slaughterhouse attributed to these animals becoming invisible even if they were not completely pushed out of the city. During the transition period from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic, carts, and wagons pulled by horses, oxen and buffalo were replaced by automobiles, jitneys, and electric trams in urban passenger transportation. As mentioned above, horse-drawn trams continued to exist in Izmir and Konya until the 1930s, while they made their last journey in the streets of Istanbul much earlier, on the eve of World War I.

Another important issue with working animals is the debates about their living conditions. The Westernization and modernization processes were very influential in the regulations regarding the yoke harness, the torment of riding and pack animals, and the use of these animals. For example, immediately after the declaration of the Second Constitutional Era, the “regulations for porters” issued in 1909 recommended that pack and service animals not be tormented. It was determined by the regulation that “a horse load should absolutely not exceed 120 kilos, donkey’s load 80 kilos, a single horse carriage 250 kilos, double horse carriage 400 kilos, ox cart 500 kilos and buffalo cart 600 kilos”. The suffering of animals of burden was frequently mentioned following the culling of tens of thousands of dogs in the Hayırsızada massacre of 1910. Therefore, the role of the suffering experienced by horses, donkeys, mules, hinnies, and camels on the streets of Istanbul cannot be ignored in the birth of the idea of protecting animals in the last years of the Ottoman Empire and finally in the foundation of the İstanbul Himaye-i Hayvanat Cemiyeti (today called the Turkish Society for the Protection of Animals) in 1912. Although technological advances have ended the use of animal labor in infrastructure needs such as transportation, it can be said that working animals continue to exist in the age of electricity and oil. Despite the protests of animal rights defenders and complaints from various segments of the public, horse porters, mules, and donkeys continued to be used in the transport of furniture and goods, even though trucks and vans had become widespread. Similarly, donkey and mule labor were used until the late 1970s to transport building materials such as timber, sand, lime, and stone to the construction sites and to haul construction waste.11 Another area that benefited from working animal labor in the age of technology was stone quarries and mines. Called “mining mules,” until recently, these mules were used in coal pits in Zonguldak to haul 4-5 tons of coal wagons, firedamp explosions, wreckage clearing, and worker rescue. The number of pit ponies gradually declined after the 1980s. The last mining mule died in 2001.12 Until very recently, hundreds of horses were hitched to carriages in Istanbul, on the islands, and at the Kordonboyu (esplanade) in Izmir. On the other hand, in some hilly cities with slopes and stairs, such as Mardin, municipalities use “on staff” donkeys and mules for garbage collection.

As a result, it can be easily said that working animals played an important part in the economic, social, cultural, and spatial changes and transformations of cities in Turkey. Working animals have ceased to be an element of the urban public space they helped shape with modernization and urbanization. Although these animals are no longer a major component of modern city life today, they still exist in the rural economy. Cities, which are increasingly dominated by people in the Anthropocene age, still carry the traces and heritage of a more-than-human history, where thousands of working animals have lived and died until the recent past to shelter, transport, protect, feed, and entertain us, city dwellers.

 

1
For the concept of the “Animal Turn,” see. Harriet Ritvo, “On the Animal Turn,” Daedalus: Journal of the Academy of Arts and Sciences 4 (2007), 118-22. For a comprehensive Turkish analysis of how animals can be included in critical urban studies, see Ayten Alkan, “Towards a Theory of a City Involving Animals,” Ayten Alkan (ed.), Şehir ve Hayvan [The City and Non-Human Animals] (Istanbul: Patika Kitap, 2020), 17-59.
2
Vahdettin Engin, “İstanbul’da Şehiriçi Kara Ulaşımı: At Arabalarından Otomobile,” [Inner City Land Transportation in Istanbul: From Horse Carriages to Automobiles], Vahdettin Engin, Ahmet Uçar and Osman Doğan (eds), Transportation in the Ottoman Empire. Land – Sea – Railway (Istanbul: Çamlıca Press, 2013), 88–89; Çelik Gülersoy, Eski Türk Arabaları [Old Turkish Cars] (Istanbul: Turkish Touring and Automobile Association Publications, 1981), 33.
3
Çelik Gülersoy, Tramvay İstanbul’da [Tram in Istanbul] (Istanbul: Turkey Touring and Automobile Association Publications, 1989), 19.
4
Semih Çınar, “Horse Tramway in Izmir Through Ottoman to Republican Period,” Cihan Özgün (der.), IZMIR: Search of the Past (İzmir: Ege Üniversitesi, 2020), 181–82.
5
ibid, 186.
6
Nail Bülbül, ““Atlı Tramvaydan Elektrikli Tramvaya” [From Horse-drawn Tram to Electric Tram], Konya - Merhaba Newspaper, 27 October 2001.
7
Rauf Beyru, “Ondokuzuncu Yüzyılın İlk Yarısında İzmir’de Kent İçi ve Kent Çevresi Ulaşımı ve Trafik Düzeni” [Urban and Surrounding Transportation and Traffic in Izmir in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century], Tuncer Baykara (ed.), in the Proceedings of the İzmir and West Anatolia in Recent Years International Symposium (Izmir: Akademi Kitabevi, 1994), 13–15.
8
Onur İnal, “One-Humped History: The Camel as Historical Actor in the Late Ottoman Empire,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 53, no. 1 (February 2021): 57–72.
9
Right next to Veliefendi Racetrack, there is still a street called Fildamı today. For further information, see Hakkı Göktürk, “Fil Damı” [Elephant Dam], İstanbul Ansiklopedisi [Istanbul Encyclopedia], 5788.
10
Hüsnü Kınaylı, “Deve” [Camel], İstanbul Ansiklopedisi [Istanbul Encyclopedia], 4530.
11
“Atlı Hamallar” [Porters with Horses] İstanbul Ansiklopedisi [Istanbul Encyclopedia], 1312; Kudret Emiroğlu ve Ahmet Yüksel, Yoldaşımız At [Our Companion Horse] (Istanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 2003).
12
Figen Uzan Özdemir, “Zonguldak’taki Emekçi Katırlar: Hayvan Emeği ve Direnişi Üzerine Bir İnceleme” [Working Mules in Zonguldak: A Study on Animal Labor and Activism], Aytan Alkan (ed.), Şehir ve Hayvan [City and Non-Human Animals] (Istanbul: Patika Kitap, 2020), 199-222; “The last mule assigned to TTK [Turkish Coal Mining Institution] has died” (23 January 2001), http://arsiv.ntv.com.tr/news/58520.asp (accessed 11 July 2021).
  1. For the concept of the “Animal Turn,” see. Harriet Ritvo, “On the Animal Turn,” Daedalus: Journal of the Academy of Arts and Sciences 4 (2007), 118-22. For a comprehensive Turkish analysis of how animals can be included in critical urban studies, see Ayten Alkan, “Towards a Theory of a City Involving Animals,” Ayten Alkan (ed.), Şehir ve Hayvan [The City and Non-Human Animals] (Istanbul: Patika Kitap, 2020), 17-59.
  2. Vahdettin Engin, “İstanbul’da Şehiriçi Kara Ulaşımı: At Arabalarından Otomobile,” [Inner City Land Transportation in Istanbul: From Horse Carriages to Automobiles], Vahdettin Engin, Ahmet Uçar and Osman Doğan (eds), Transportation in the Ottoman Empire. Land – Sea – Railway (Istanbul: Çamlıca Press, 2013), 88–89; Çelik Gülersoy, Eski Türk Arabaları [Old Turkish Cars] (Istanbul: Turkish Touring and Automobile Association Publications, 1981), 33.
  3. Çelik Gülersoy, Tramvay İstanbul’da [Tram in Istanbul] (Istanbul: Turkey Touring and Automobile Association Publications, 1989), 19.
  4. Semih Çınar, “Horse Tramway in Izmir Through Ottoman to Republican Period,” Cihan Özgün (der.), IZMIR: Search of the Past (İzmir: Ege Üniversitesi, 2020), 181–82.
  5. ibid, 186.
  6. Nail Bülbül, ““Atlı Tramvaydan Elektrikli Tramvaya” [From Horse-drawn Tram to Electric Tram], Konya - Merhaba Newspaper, 27 October 2001.
  7. Rauf Beyru, “Ondokuzuncu Yüzyılın İlk Yarısında İzmir’de Kent İçi ve Kent Çevresi Ulaşımı ve Trafik Düzeni” [Urban and Surrounding Transportation and Traffic in Izmir in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century], Tuncer Baykara (ed.), in the Proceedings of the İzmir and West Anatolia in Recent Years International Symposium (Izmir: Akademi Kitabevi, 1994), 13–15.
  8. Onur İnal, “One-Humped History: The Camel as Historical Actor in the Late Ottoman Empire,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 53, no. 1 (February 2021): 57–72.
  9. Right next to Veliefendi Racetrack, there is still a street called Fildamı today. For further information, see Hakkı Göktürk, “Fil Damı” [Elephant Dam], İstanbul Ansiklopedisi [Istanbul Encyclopedia], 5788.
  10. Hüsnü Kınaylı, “Deve” [Camel], İstanbul Ansiklopedisi [Istanbul Encyclopedia], 4530.
  11. “Atlı Hamallar” [Porters with Horses] İstanbul Ansiklopedisi [Istanbul Encyclopedia], 1312; Kudret Emiroğlu ve Ahmet Yüksel, Yoldaşımız At [Our Companion Horse] (Istanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 2003).
  12. Figen Uzan Özdemir, “Zonguldak’taki Emekçi Katırlar: Hayvan Emeği ve Direnişi Üzerine Bir İnceleme” [Working Mules in Zonguldak: A Study on Animal Labor and Activism], Aytan Alkan (ed.), Şehir ve Hayvan [City and Non-Human Animals] (Istanbul: Patika Kitap, 2020), 199-222; “The last mule assigned to TTK [Turkish Coal Mining Institution] has died” (23 January 2001), http://arsiv.ntv.com.tr/news/58520.asp (accessed 11 July 2021).

About the author Onur İnal is a faculty member at the Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Vienna. He completed his doctoral study in the Department of History at the University of Arizona. He is the founder and coordinator of the Turkish Environmental History Network. He has been the Turkey representative of the European Environmental History Society since 2017. He has published a number of edited volumes and articles on political ecology, environmental history, animal history, and human-animal studies.