Multinational Capital, Public Utilities, and Urban Change in Late Ottoman Istanbul. Constantinople Tramway and Electric Company

Abstract

As a global tendency that accelerated in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, electricity gradually permeated almost every aspect of urban life, transforming the whole infrastructure of modern cities, from lightening to heating, transportation to communication and industrial production. This essay aims to provide insights About how this global process was experienced in Istanbul, the Ottoman Empire’s capital city, during the initial decades of the twentieth century. To that end, I concentrate on the Belgian-registered Constantinople Tramway and Electric Company, which invested in the energy and transport infrastructure of Istanbul. I argue that the formation of this multinational holding was a crucial aspect of urbanization in Istanbul. This process was closely associated with and the direct outcome of the development of the Electric utility industry in Istanbul and the electrification of the city’s tramway network.