Contrat salam et transformations agricoles en basse Égypte à l'époque Ottomane

The agrarian study of Egypt during the 18 and 19th centuries shows evidence that a "modern" appearing phenomena as money exchange and credit, cash-crop production, and the commodization of land and labor were extant to at least some degree well before the 19th century. Market-oriented production and urban-rural commerce in pre-modern Egypt were facilitated by certain well-established practices. One was the formation of partnership in trade and production in which urban investors, usually but not always merchants, provided most of the capital. Another set of practices involved the extension of credit to producers, with a number of different options, including the salam contract. This essay examines how salam worked in the pre-modern Egyptian economy, and how the familiarity of merchants and producers with it may have facilitated the capitalist transformation.