The articles in this supplement examine the social and labour history of that part of the Ottoman Empire that would later be incorporated into the new republic of Turkey, and the history of labour in republican Turkey itself. Covering the period between the end of the nineteenth century and the early 1950s, the volume brings together Ottoman and republican Turkish historiographies to demonstrate the many ways in which the social histories of the Ottoman Empire and Turkey intersect in the history of labour. It identifies those aspects of the historical experience that are distinct to the two polities, as well as those that show the continuities between them. The case studies included explore divisions in labour along the lines of geography, gender, ethnicity and religion.