The Ottoman Empire (1299-1923) existed at the crossroads of the East and the West. Neither the history of Western Asia, nor that of Eastern Europe, can be fully understood without knowledge of the history of the Ottoman Empire.The question is often raised of whether or not economic thinking can exist in a non-capitalistic society. In the Ottoman Empire, like in all other pre-capitalistic cultures, the economic sphere was an integral part of social life, and elements of Ottoman economic thought can frequently be found in amongst political, social and religious ideas. Ottoman economic thinking cannot, therefore, be analyzed in isolation; analysis of economic thinking can reveal aspects of the entire world view of the Ottomans.