A closer look
In an attempt to encourage international trade, the Ottoman Empire granted sweeping privileges called 'Capitulations' to European merchants. It started as a polite gesture, allowing French and British traders to bypass local taxes and even be tried in their own foreign courts while living on Ottoman soil. Predictably, giving foreign mega-corporations legal cheat codes backfired spectacularly. European merchants utterly dominated local businesses who still had to pay high taxes, economically hollowing out the empire from the inside until it was mockingly dubbed the 'Sick Man of Europe.'
