Bridging Europe and Asia

During the time of the Ottoman Empire, the residents of the Bosphorus consisted solely of fishermen, boatsmen and gardeners. Transportation costs between the villages of the Bosphorus, the manner in which the boats called pereme were boarded and the number of people that could be accommodated were set by regulation. In particular the peremes has to be long and wide. The rules prohibited that they function as sailboats, that men and women travel together and overcrowding.