With the beginning of the ninth century BC, the history of the Arab nation began, writing in its pages the successes of a number of Arab tribes that lived on the lands located from Mauritania through the Arabian Peninsula to the desert of southern Syria, and this is the period that witnessed the start of trade through convoys crossing the corridors and paths. By land and sea, to be a witness to the relationship of the first Arabs to buying and selling.
Arab trade and since this date camels, horse-drawn carts and ships were used to transport goods to the world with their impact, from the shores of India and the Arabian Gulf through southern Arabia to Egypt and the African region. .
Establishing agencies
Meanwhile, the Arab region witnessed the launch of more than 10 commercial agencies, in a step that is the first of its kind. The world did not know what the agency meant and what its role was, but the “Kakhya” agency is one of the most important of these agencies and the most prominent of which is ignored by history, this is what it reveals «Vision» during this tour, which began in the seventeenth century AD.
The Arabian Peninsula was the meeting point of the land convoys coming from the lands of Yemen towards the Hijaz, Najd and Iraq, so that the Arabs were the first to establish trade systems and centers to manage them, so that the world would later derive the organizing foundations for them. Arab trade, through the establishment of commercial agencies, with the participation of wealthy Arabs.
On September 28, 1644, the Knights of Saint John managed to rob an Ottoman ship that was heading towards Istanbul from Alexandria, carrying a number of statesmen, merchants and pilgrims. Targeted by the Ottoman Empire, which made a decision to war.
Venice realized that it would not be able to stand this conflict, so it changed its strategy and closed the Dardanelles strait. The Ottoman Empire found itself facing an urgent necessity, which is to encourage the establishment of commercial agencies for the purpose of storing goods, as well as the conduct of trade movement similar to the agency of Ghouria and Qusun in Cairo.
Kikhia Commercial Agency
Meanwhile, in 1669, while the conflict in Istanbul intensified after the financial losses caused by the closure of the Dardanelles Strait, and the lavish spending on the Sultan’s harem, Prince Hassan Katkhuda Azban announced the establishment of the “Kakhya” agency for the sale of timber as one of the largest agencies at the time in “Timbakshi Street”, It is a Persian word from two syllables “Tembak” which means tobacco, and “Kashiya” which means place of sale.
Some historians pointed out that the term “Katkhuda” is of Turkish-Persian origin, meaning “Lord of the House.” Later, it became a title given to rulers or rulers. It was mentioned in a number of documents and history pages as “Kikhia, Kekha and Katakhta.”
A Yemeni merchant seizes the agency
The agency continued to sell timber, which was the focus of attention of the wealthy, for a period of nearly 173 years, until it was bought by a wealthy Yemeni named Muhammad Bazara’a and his brother, and its name was changed to “Bazara’a” agency, during which period Ibn Battuta emphasized the importance of Aden in international trade, saying that it It is considered the anchorage of the people of India, great boats come to it, the merchants of India reside there, and the merchants of Egypt as well.
Importing “Yemeni coffee” for the first time
Bazraa and his brother have investment plans and studies for executable projects in Egypt, but there is no time for them to implement these plans. The French campaign led by Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt until 1801, after a conflict in which the Turks united with the British, according to what was mentioned in the Mamluk biography book of the historian and novelist. Jehan Mamoon.
As soon as the French invasion ended, the two brothers rushed to implement the commercial plans, and the first of them began by importing a new commodity about which the Egyptians knew nothing, which is the Yemeni coffee and it was called “Ben Mocha” that trade for which the new agency was famous, after it caused a situation of The struggle over the prohibition of drinking it.
“Coffee Prohibition”
The new drink, “coffee,” was not welcomed at first, especially by the men of Al-Azhar and the sheikhs of Mecca. Even the jurist Ahmed bin Abdul-Haq Al-Sunbati, one of the Shafi’i jurists, launched a strong campaign against “coffee.” He said: “As long as it affects the mind positively or negatively, it is forbidden. Al-Sunbati’s fatwa came to agree with the view of the Ottoman Sultan at the time.
Martyrs of the coffee trade
The matter did not end there, as a bloody battle erupted between the supporters of the Shafi’i jurist and the merchants, ending with the killing of one of the supporters of the merchants and the exposure of two others to stabbings in the chest. The jurist fled to a mosque, and the mosque was besieged from all directions.
Only hours passed and while the siege of the mosque continued, the supporters of the merchants received news of the death of the two injured, insisting on the siege and the participation of the families of the victims with them, and as soon as night came, they brought tents and blankets to prevent the faqih’s escape from the mosque.
Coffee gentlemen and condolences
The state of siege of the mosque continues, but the supporters of the merchants are looking for any objection in the supporters of the faqih, until they reached to make coffee without sugar and distribute it to the participants in the siege and passers-by in the streets, so that this point would be the beginning of serving coffee for the gentlemen in the funerals.
The state of siege lasted for three days, with which a state of chaos and riot rose, for the Ottoman Sultan to intervene and issue a decision appointing the new Mufti, who in turn decided to cancel the decision to stop drinking coffee or its trade, and this decision was a victory for the merchants and honoring the souls of the coffee martyrs.
Manufacture and trade of Nabulsi soap
Historian Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Abi Talib al-Ansari al-Maqdisi, who lived in the tenth century AD, spoke about the soap industry, and said that it was made in the Palestinian city of Nablus, and was exported to all countries of the year. When he visited it in 1200 AD, he wrote, “This city symbolizes A palace between the orchards, may God bless her with the blessed olive tree.” Meanwhile, soap was not among the goods being sold.
A new commodity, which will be popular, especially as it is produced from olive oil that characterizes the land of Palestine, pushed “Bazara’a” to import Nabulsi soap and sell it to merchants in the “Kakhia” agency, which actually succeeded even that Bazara’a – the owner of the agency – later tried to produce soap from the raw materials. The same, but it did not work – which was clarified by the book of the facts of Al-Zafarana neighborhood, when talking about a person named Awad, who said, “He was sent to an agency in Bazara’a and worked as a porter transporting soap oil and rolling barrels across the street from the warehouse to the factory near Bab Al-Nasr.”
In 1830, the English economist Sir John Boring said, “Nablus’ soap is respected by many in the Levant.” And the Syrian historian Muhammad Kurd Ali wrote about it in 1930, that Nablus soap was the best quality and most famous at the time, its quality is not ordinary and this is the secret Its good production so far.
King Farouk Factory
With the beginning of the twentieth century, the Nablus soap industry deteriorated, specifically with the earthquake in 1927, which wiped out a lot in Nablus, which was known at the time as a setback for the soap industry in Nablus, especially after its trademark was exploited. Then came the customs taxes imposed by the Egyptian government in cooperation with the Mandate government. Britain, which amounted to 25%, followed by the excise duty imposed by the Syrian government on Nabulsi soap, leaving the industry powerless in the face of all these challenges.
While the Nabulsi industry, which was one of the pillars of the economy, was suffering, many in Arab countries rushed to open factories for the production of soap bearing the same name. King Farouk even established a factory bearing the same name, using a number of artists led by Umm Kulthum to make publicity for the new product, but the company is an agency Bazaraa” hastened and published an advertisement with a picture of the leader, Saad Zagloul, to support the product, and said that it was with his permission before his death.
The city of Nablus, which included between its two mountains “Ebal and Gerizim” more than 40 factories for the production of Nabulsi soap, until the seventies of the last century, only two factories remained that worked in the primitive way of making Nabulsi soap.
Reception of Arab merchants
The agency of “Kakhya” Bazraa quickly gained a great reputation in the Arab region, especially after it expanded in the trade of timber, Nabulsi soap, almonds, hazelnuts, spices, herbs and incense, which was brought by “Bazra’a” from India, turning the agency into a forum for Arab traders, where deals were made. Auctions and bartering of goods are held.
In the fifteenth century, the Egyptian Agency received hundreds of Andalusian Arabs who fled from Spain to the Maghreb and Egypt after the fall of Andalusia (the Emirate of Granada), and it was taken into account in the Agency to be close to the mosques so that their guests could pray at their five times without delay, and to be close to the bathrooms until They can bathe regularly, especially since the Egyptian baths had spread in the meantime and were the best in the Arab East under the Mamluk era.
Arab Traders Hotel
Trade expanded and the agency “Kakhya” received all Arab products, and merchants from the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant and Mesopotamia, which prompted “Bazaraa” to convert the second part of the agency into a residential suite, known as the Arab Traders Hotel, consisting of two floors and each housing unit consisting of a first floor with an entrance A bathroom, a small kitchen, a staircase and a reception hall with a height of two floors, are rented to Arab merchants, who reside for days inside the agency.
The covering of the Kaaba
The volume of “Bazara’a” trade expanded, so that the commercial convoys traveling to the country of Hejaz were moving from the agency carrying commercial goods and local products during the Hajj season, accompanied on their journey by the covering of the Kaaba, which “Bazara’a” sponsored to manufacture at its own expense, and Egypt was keen in the meantime. to manufacture and deliver it to the country of Hejaz.
The emergence of remittances «Svtag»
Nine years after Bazara’a acquired the Kikhia Agency, the looting of caravans of merchants and pilgrims spread widely. This was confirmed by Al-Jabarti in 1787 AD when he said: “The caravan of merchants and pilgrims arriving from Suez to Cairo was looted, and it contained a lot of money from merchants and pilgrims, And looting was looted for merchants, especially six thousand camels, including cloth, spices, coffee, fabrics, and goods other than the money and belongings of pilgrims. Perhaps this incident is what prompted Bazraa to invent a system of postal remittances, especially since Arab merchants have become worried about seizing their money or goods during travel.
“Bazara’a” prepared books, which are financial records for transferring money. They were called “Al-Safatj,” a system that allowed non-Egyptian merchants to borrow money and repay it to him in another country, so that the merchant would avoid the risks of the road to his money exposed to looting at any time.
In “Shahbandar Traders” farm
“Bazara’a,” this great merchant who came to Egypt from the Yemeni city of Hadhramaut, reached so rich and famous that he was called “Shahbandar the Traders,” a title that was given to those who had the solution and the contract in the merchants’ disputes and their issues and judged them, so that his fame, according to What was mentioned in the book The Pains of Yemen, prompted Imam Yahya Hamid al-Din, the imam of Yemen at that time, to request his help as a legitimate ruler in one of the Yemeni provinces, but the novel could not be believed, as Imam Hamid al-Din sat on the Imamate chair in 1904.
Agency restoration
In March 2002, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities inaugurated the restoration and maintenance work of the agency “Bazaraa” or “Kikhia”, after the restoration operations took about three years, and cost about 5 million pounds, in preparation for the establishment of artistic and cultural activities in it, similar to the agency of Al-Ghouri.
The maintenance work included an architectural restoration, which the ministry said at the time, was meticulous for walls and walls, and included cleaning all wood from mashrabiyas, windows and doors, painting them with materials that preserve the nature of wood and not affecting its archaeological nature, changing the puncture tiles that have been eroded by time, and providing the agency with systems Lighting at the highest level.
The building is in danger of collapsing
As soon as the Ministry of Antiquities completed the restoration of the “Kakhya” agency building, it allowed a number of government employees to practice their work from the agency’s headquarters, and visitors were also allowed to enter during non-working hours, but the matter did not last long, which revealed the closed iron door. and locks.
Several attempts by the “vision” to enter the agency’s headquarters, all of them failed, as no one can open the door, as the ceiling of the third floor collapsed three months ago, and there is a danger of wandering inside, leaving this history, heritage and archaeological economic landmark threatened with disappearance.
Sultans Commercial Agencies
The “Kakhya” agency was not the only one operating in trade in Egypt and became famous in the Arab region. The Mamluk sultans set up commercial agencies during their reign to make profits from behind foreign merchants, and they also allowed the people to set up markets in the surrounding areas for the purpose of reviving the trade movement, even It allowed the establishment of cafes to entertain merchants and customers.
Agencies executed by negligence
The most prominent of these agencies were established by Prince Qusun Al-Nasiri behind the Al-Hakim Mosque by the command of God in Al-Gamaleya. Only the entrance block and the facade remain, and two agencies established by Sultan Abu Al-Nasr Qaytbay, the first in the Al-Darb Al-Ahmar area was three floors, from which the third floor has disappeared, and the second is “Al Millia” And now fall prey to the preoccupations of the people.
The agency of Sultan Al-Ghouri, which was built by Qansuh Al-Ghouri at the beginning of his rule in Egypt and extends from Al-Azhar Mosque to the Al-Tablata market area in Al-Batiniya and is known as Al-Ghouri region, is one of the most important commercial agencies in the history of the Arab region, in addition to the agencies of “Al-Jellaba, Suleiman, Tafri Bardi, Al-Naqadi, Jamal Al-Din Al-Dhahabi, Al-Tutanji and Abbas Agha.” Al-Sandaqiyah, Bedouin Nita Shaheen Al-Karwani, Nafisa Al-Bayda and Al-Silhdar.
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