Weapons Production in Kalkandelen (Tetovo) in the Nineteenth and Beginning of the Twentieth Centuries

Tetovo is located in North Macedonia today. Known as Kalkandelen during the Ottoman period, it was one of the most important Balkan cities, where the inhabitants produced a considerable number and quality of weapons in their private workshops from the eighteenth century onwards. In the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries, the large number of gunsmiths in the town were highly skilled. During the reign of Sultan Mahmut II, pistols were produced in the town for the new Ottoman army. Some manufacturers also traded in these weapons. The central government took various measures to monopolise the production of these weapons. Despite all the measures, weapons manufacturing and repair processes in the town could never be completely stopped.