The Commercial Entrepreneurship of Mincho Genchev from Tryavna, According to His Archive from 1830s–1880s

During the Revival Tryavna was built up as a settlement with a well-defined craft and merchant community. The lack of fertile agricultural land determines the specific local activities based on the available natural resources. Craft production becomes a barter commodity not only for the domestic market but also abroad. Gradually, the artisan becomes merchant of his products, and accumulates a good financial capital. Craftsmen and traders also occupy an important position in communal life and dictates directions in settlement’s development. One of these representatives of the craft-trade stratum in Tryavna is Mincho Genchev. He is a tailor. He also appears as a merchant and leases grain and livestock, which became evident through the detailed registrations of the commercial transactions in his “Mixed Trade Notebook” (1836–1883). The notebook is part of his archive, which is preserved at the Bulgarian Historical Archive, National Library – Sofia. As a merchant he appears in the markets of Uzundzhovo, Tekirdag and Edirne, from where he bought goods not only for his tailoring business, but also for his shop. The imported items can be divided into several categories: food, beverages and spices; tobacco; fabrics and textile products; metal products; medical products; books; jewelry, etc. His preserved archive can be used as a benchmark of the movement in commodity prices in different years. Thanks to his documented activity we can determine Mincho Genchev as one of the influential entrepreneurs – craftsmen and traders, who raised Tryavna as a proto-industrial and commercial center in the 19th century.