Istanbul's Bostans: A Millennium of Market Gardens^*

* I wish to thank the Office of Research and Support Programs, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire and the American Research Institute in Turkey (ARIT) for the funding that made the fieldwork supporting this article possible. I would especially like to thank Tony Greenwood and the staff of ARIT‐Istanbul for always doing everything within their means to assist me when I am in Turkey. Finally, I must acknowledge the value that Maria Elisa Christie and Clarissa Kimber added through their conscientious and thoughtful reviews of drafts of this article.

Abstract

For centuries, a network of market gardens throughout Istanbul provisioned the city with fresh vegetables. These bostans and their gardeners held a respected place in Istanbul life, contributing to the city's food and employment needs. Today, only fragments remain. Massive urban development, intense competition for metropolitan space, modernization, changing institutions and laws, and the global industrialization of food have threatened this tradition with extinction. But in spite of the overwhelming forces behind their demise, some of Istanbul's bostans persist. Efforts to support and promote the gardens, and to draw from the expertise and experience of their gardeners, are emerging. From a historical perspective, this article examines Istanbul's bostans to understand their meaning and contribution to the city's people and landscape.

• bostans
• Istanbul
• market gardens
• Turkey
• urban agriculture

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Paul J. Kaldjian

Dr. Kaldjian is an assistant professor of geography at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, Wisconsin 54702.