Sérres

Serres stands above the fertile Strymon plain in Macedonia, a city whose markets drew on the produce of its surrounding countryside. After its capture by the Ottomans in 1383, it became a base for further campaigns and a flourishing provincial center. Mosques, churches and commercial buildings grew among its quarters, while merchants and artisans served a population of several faiths.

Ottoman patrons endowed inns, places of worship and a covered market, or bedesten, at the heart of the city. Shops within and around the market helped support charitable foundations through their rents. By the early 16th century a Jewish community had become established in Serres, active in trade and crafts. Cotton from the wider plain later became a major export, carried by caravans and by sea through the ports of the northern Aegean.