[3] Thanks to its strategic geographic location on the trade route between Anatolia and the east, Aleppo rose to high prominence in the Ottoman era, at one point being second only to Constantinople in the empire.

[7] However, the prosperity Aleppo experienced in the 16th and 17th century started to fade as silk production in Iran went into decline with the fall of the Safavid dynasty in 1722.

By mid-century, caravans were no longer bringing silk from Iran to Aleppo, and local Syrian production was insufficient for Europe's demand.

[5] Beginning in the 16th century, officials in Aleppo coordinated large municipal surveys that mapped the population and grouped them into administrative divisions for centralized regulation.

The modernization of warfare during the second half of the century however encouraged changes in municipal administration, and the centralized system was replaced with a set of decentralized guidelines that allowed urban populations to determine their own policies.

Their duties were likely to assist the surveying teams travel and find accommodations throughout the city, however they were also able to contribute their understandings of where pockets of wealth and poverty existed, and report any information they had about local society and administrative practices.

These gestures demonstrated that the surveyors were interested in a holistic understanding of the city, and assured the local population that they were receiving information from a variety of sources.

A second unit that was larger was the kaysariyye, or the kaysarhk, a courtyard structure with various chambers that consisted not only of smaller commercial buildings, but also caravanserais in the central market area.

The state required residents to pay the tax to meet unpredictable expenses that often came during times of war until the Tanzimat reforms of the 19th century.

Examples of these expenses were the transportation costs of moving goods to military strongholds or fees to enlist specialized corps to assist the army.

Professional businesses, largely guilds or trade organizations, conferred rights onto people considered to be a member of that industrial group.