In the nineteenth century, the ancient pilgrimage economy was rocked by technology and administrative rationality. Since the advent of Islam, this economy had been based on the caravan system, the support and subsidies provided by Muslim governments and individuals, and finally, the commercial role of the Hijaz, which had already begun its decline in the eighteenth century. In the Ottoman Empire and Egypt, western pattern of modernity had been widely introduced, albeit selectively, through a series of indigenous reforms (Tanzimât). However, with colonization, modernity penetrated even deeper into the majority of Muslim regions. The pilgrimage, which had hitherto remained a strictly Muslim affair, became a common concern of the colonial powers, which subsequently had to manage it from an administrative and economic perspective. This “European” modernity, however, affected the various economic aspects of the pilgrimage in different ways and according to a varying chronology. With the introduction of steam navigation, which was, in this case, a true revolution, the transportation of pilgrims proved very vulnerable to the assault of European capitalism. The internal economy of Hijaz, on the other hand, was negatively affected by the changes of this period, especially those of a political nature. The disappearance of the financial boon that came with the Ottoman Empire in particular was offset by heavier taxes on the pilgrims. Those driven by faith much more than economic rationality left for Hijaz with very modest means and sometimes in situations of real financial insecurity. On arriving in the holy places of Islam, they encountered a level of misery hardly different from their own, which the region's inhabitants sought to relieve by exploiting the pilgrims until the arrival of oil revenues propelled the pilgrimage into a new economic era.

ECONOMIC STAKES IN THE TRANSPORTATION OF PILGRIMS

European Shipping Companies’ Control over the Transportation of Pilgrims

Pilgrimage caravans, which had existed since the Umayyad period, never ceased to grow and develop over the centuries, forming an annual convoy on Middle Eastern routes, which was only interrupted in the event of a major political crisis. During the Ottoman era, these caravans had become large-scale events, whose organization was based on a very elaborate economy.