Esnaf

'''''' is a Turkish word which means "corporation". During the Early Modern Period belonging to a guild gave people a voice and was an important part of one's identity. Handicraft producers were linked to one another by a range of social, political, and economic ties. Guilds varied among societies, social class, and genders. There were many misconceptions, differences, as well as similarities between Europe and the Ottoman Empire. There were hierarchies within guilds; sometimes they shared tools, worked together, or worked alone.

==History== In the Early Modern Period, collective identity was mainly established by normative framework, but was also a result of the process of interaction itself, and could be manipulated according to the circumstances. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the Islamic state created a system, based upon an open- minded interpretation of Islam's attitude toward rival monotheists that allowed inclusion for the Christians and Jews who populated the conquered lands of Anatolia and the Balkans. The uprising of Istanbul in 1651 was a successful protest against dominant authority. The people marched on the palace and got a powerful religious leader on their side in order to get the vizier to step down. They made their voices heard as a group within their guild, and gave people a sense of pride to belong to a guild. Economic activity within guilds was controlled by political powers.