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Ottoman Akçe Silver Coin

Type Object Region Ottoman Empire Time c. 1327

The akçe was the standard silver coin established by the Ottoman Empire in the early 14th century, serving core functions in daily transactions, tax …

Timeline

  1. c. 1327–1340Bursa · Ottoman EmpireEarly Ottoman rulers carried out monetary reforms, adopting the akçe silver coin as the empire's basic unit of account and circulation, replacing the mixed Byzantine and Seljuk legacy coins and laying the foundation for imperial fiscal accounting.
  2. 1400–1600Istanbul · Ottoman EmpireThe akçe supported imperial taxation (denominated in akçe), timar military pay, and market transactions, circulating widely in the Balkans, Anatolia, and the Levant as territory expanded, and maintaining fixed exchange rates with foreign currencies such as the ducat.
  3. 1700–1844Istanbul · Ottoman EmpireWar expenditures and fiscal crises repeatedly debased the akçe; in the 18th and 19th centuries the empire introduced new silver coins and paper money, and after the 1844 monetary reform the akçe ceased to exist in name as circulating currency, though its accounting tradition long persisted in archives and land deeds.

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