Entrepreneurial Activities in the Late Ottoman Period and Early Republican Period from the Perspective of Business History: Trade Interaction with the United Kingdom

The aim of this research is to determine the entrepreneurial activities in Turkey's industrialisation process and to reveal the commercial interaction with the UK in this process. The study mainly focuses on the initiatives in the late industrialisation period that started in the second half of the 19th century in the Ottoman Empire, the entrepreneurial activities in the national industrialisation move that marked the founding period of the Republic of Turkey, and the commercial interaction with the UK in both periods. In accordance with the purpose of the study, qualitative research method was preferred and the data of the research was obtained through document analysis. In the entrepreneurial activities in the late Ottoman period, it was observed that the railway and banking sectors came to the fore. In the Early Republican period, the pioneer of entrepreneurial activities was the state sector and investments were concentrated in the defence sector. It has been determined that 36 British companies operated in the Ottoman Empire during the late Ottoman period. British investments between 1851 and 1918 were concentrated in the railway and banking sectors. British ventures during the early Republican period, however, remained quite limited compared to those of the late Ottoman period.