From Bazaar to Market: Foreign Trade and Economic Development in Nineteenth-Century Iran

During the nineteenth century, the bazaar remained the center of commercial activity in Iran. However, the traditional structure of Iranian economy and society began to be deeply affected by Iran's increasing involvement in the international market, so that by the end of the century there had been nearly a twelvefold increase in the volume of Iran's foreign trade. This was accompanied by a rise in the general level of prosperity in the country, and an almost doubling of its population. The groups most directly affected by these developments were the merchants and craftsmen and it was the emergence of a small capitalist class which wanted a share in the political process that greatly contributed to the rise and success of the constitutional movement. The impact of the demands of the international market on crafts and guilds damaged some of the textile industry but stimulated the rise of new crafts, such as those associated with the production and processing of opium and carpets.