Akçe

The akçe was the small silver coin that served as the principal money of the Ottoman Empire for several centuries. Its name comes from the Turkish word for "white", a reference to the colour of silver. First struck under Sultan Orhan in the 1320s, the akçe was used to pay soldiers and officials, to set taxes and to keep state accounts, and it remained the empire's basic unit of account long after its silver content had been sharply reduced.

The akçe belonged to the long Islamic tradition of silver coinage descended from the dirham, and it was similar to the small silver coins issued by other Anatolian states of the period.

The earliest securely dated Ottoman coins are akçes of Orhan, traditionally linked to the year AH 727 (1326–1327) and the newly captured city of Bursa. Claims that Orhan's father Osman struck coins are debated. The early akçe was a thin coin of good silver weighing little more than a gram, carrying Arabic inscriptions with the ruler's name and the mint. As the Ottoman state grew from a frontier principality into an empire spanning the Balkans, Anatolia and later the Arab lands, mints were opened in many conquered cities.

For most of its history the Ottoman monetary system rested on three metals. The silver akçe was the everyday money of wages, prices and taxes; small copper coins served for minor purchases, in the tradition of the fals; and from the reign of Mehmed II a gold coin, the sultani, was struck to a standard close to that of the Venetian ducat, the leading gold coin of Mediterranean trade. Salaries of soldiers, including the Janissary infantry, and the revenues of land grants were expressed in akçes.

The akçe lost weight and silver content over time. In the 15th century the state periodically called in old coins and reissued lighter ones, a practice known as tecdid-i sikke (renewal of coinage). This raised revenue for the treasury, a form of seigniorage, but it also reduced the real value of fixed salaries and payments.

The most serious episode came in 1585–1586 under Murad III, when the akçe's silver content was roughly halved. This took place against a background of rising prices across the Mediterranean, partly linked to the inflow of silver from the Americas. Soldiers paid in the debased coin rebelled in Istanbul in 1589, one of several revolts associated with the fall in the value of their pay. The episode is a classic case of currency debasement feeding inflation and political unrest, and of the tendency described by Gresham's law, under which good coin is hoarded or exported while worse coin circulates.

During the 17th century the akçe became too small and too debased to be practical, and foreign silver coins, especially European thalers, circulated widely in Ottoman markets. A larger silver coin, the para, came into use and was rated at 3 akçes. In 1688 the state introduced the kuruş, a large silver piece equal to 40 para or 120 akçes, which gradually became the main coin. Akçes were still struck in small numbers into the early 19th century, and the akçe survived for a time as a unit of account in official records.

The kuruş and para continued until the 20th century, when the Republic of Turkey adopted the Turkish lira, with the kuruş kept as its subunit. The present-day Turkish lira still divides into 100 kuruş, preserving a direct line back to the Ottoman coins that replaced the akçe.

• Ottoman Empire – Encyclopaedia Britannica
• The British Museum
• American Numismatic Society