The Eastern part of Anatolia and Arabian Peninsula went under the sovereignty of the Ottomans as the invasions made to Iran in 1514, to Egypt in 1517, and the natural consequences of the conquest of Baghdat in 1515. So, a very powerful Empire was established when Buda was invaded by Sultan Suleyman in 1541, and later Magrib countries went under the sovereignty of the Ottomans. After the sovereignty of Memluks ended, and the Red Sea was taken under control, inevitably the east-west commerce was controlled. Evidently, the economical power gained by the Ottomans could be summarized as follows:

1. 1,500,000 sultani golden coins, which were maintained as surplus of the budget from a wide region consisted of Egypt, Yemen, Habeshistan (Ethiopia), Hijaz, Dimashq, Haleb, Amid and Baghdat, were regularly sent to the administrative center. This amount equaled to 6,750 k gold of income. Much more than this amount, which was 2,600,000 duka golden coins basing on a writer called Nevagora, in 1533 was also sent to the center. The annual payment sent to the center from Egypt was only 500,000 golden coins.¹
2. The control of very important gold mines in Habesh province went under the control of the Ottomans.²
3. Customs taxes obtained from the slave trade around Habeshistan and the Red Sea became a significant part of the income.
4. The commerce with Muslim countries increased after the security of the holy pilgrimage roads towards Haj was also maintained.
5. As a result of the trade made by the ships coming to the west ports, valuable metals of the West started to flow to the region. However, this traffic was in the region many years before the Ottomans.

   The Ottomans were able to reach the precious silver and copper metals, which were mined during the Selcuklu period as well as before in the eastern part of Anatolia not before an era in the first quarter of 16^th century. On the other hand, they had better facilities and possibilities to conquer in the Balkans. The Ottomans invaded the silver mines in Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia from 1390 to 1460. These actions could be followed from the dates of the coins minted in these minting centers. These mintages were seen respectively in Serez in H816/1413, in Skopje in H826/1422 and in Nova Berde in H834/1430. Although Kratova and Serbernika were conquered in 1460, golden and silver coins were minted in Sidrakapri at the end of the 15^th century, and Serbernika at the beginning of the 16^th century. Furthermore, the Ottomans minted coins in Kucayna, Kosova (Piristina), Filibe, Sofia, Saray, Bosna, Mudova (Romania – Moldova) and Banaluka.

   The Ottomans banned the export of silver abroad after they obtained the silver mines in Serbia and Bosnia in 1450 and in 1460. Venice, the northern and southern parts of Europe were affected by metal shortage until silver mines in Bohemia and Sakson, were found in 1470 and 1480.

   The mines in Sidrekapsi had the most fertile ones at the very beginning of the 16^th century. It was estimated that the amount of approximately 6 tons of silver was mined in this area. Nova Brdo was mined as almost the same amount. It was predicted that the annual production was 26-27 tons in the middle of the 16^th century. When silver came from America to Europe, the production of silver began to decrease starting from the beginning of 16^th century. Yet, the Ottomans continued to act similarly starting from the very beginning of the 17^th century.

   All in all, it was believed that the production of silver in Serbennika increased from 2,5 tons to 5-6 tons at the beginning of the 16^th century. Similarly, it was calculated that 7.5 - 9 tons of silver was produced here by considering the annual income of Nova Brdo in those days.

   J. Tadic calculated that almost 25,000 k silver valued more than 500,000 duka was exported only through Ragusa by assuming that 40 firms were active which were mined under similar conditions. Considering the fact of the production of silver weighted 25,000 from the various mines in Serbia, Bosnia, and Macedonia, which were under the superiority of the Ottomans, we can assume that 50 tons of production was done in the Balkans under the sovereignty of the Ottomans together with the production in Sidrekapsi in the middle of the 16^th century. Evidently, we should accept that the estimated amount of 50 tons of silver production in the Balkans under the sovereignty of the Ottomans predicted by Rheodes Murphy was realistic.

   When the data about Serbernika and Nova Brdo was compared, it was concluded that the silver production in Serbia and Bosnia in the first half of the 15^th century was not less than 10 tons. The data given above was elicited from the valuable study done by Sima Cirkovic about the production of the precious metals minted in the middle of the Balkans. ³