The Ottoman Empire and the World Around It (Library of Ottoman Studies) by Suraiya Faroqhi (reupload)

图书介绍

Suraiya Faroqhi eloquently demonstrates that there was no iron curtain between the Ottoman (The House of Islam - Darülislam) and other worlds (The House of War - Darülharb) but rather a long-established network of diplomatic, financial, cultural and religious connections. These extended to the empires of Asia and the modern states of Europe. Faroqhi's book is based on a vast study of original and early modern sources, including diplomatic records, travel and geographical writing, as well as personal accounts.

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Excerpt from Introduction, p.1 In a sense, this study deals with one of the oldest and most often studied topics in Ottoman history. From the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries onwards, European ambassadors, merchants and other travellers made it their business to write about their various receptions in the Ottoman lands and, analysed with due caution, these accounts are germane to our topic. On the other hand, Ottoman writers of the sixteenth or seventeenth century, as the perusal of their chronicles shows, certainly focused on Istanbul and the sultans’ court, but did not totally ignore the world outside the Empire’s frontiers either. After all, the very stuff of such works consisted of campaigns, conquests and the incorporation of foreign territories. But on occasion, these authors also could not avoid including defeats, the losses of provinces and the truces and peace treaties that, provisionally or on a long-term basis, ended inter-state conflicts. All these warlike encounters can be viewed as a way of relating to the outside world: no conquest without something ‘out there’ that is still unconquered. Certainly the situation at European courts and – albeit to a lesser degree – the institutions characteristic of European societies only became a major topic of Ottoman written texts in the eighteenth century. But given their close concern with war and conquest, it is an exaggeration to claim that the authors of earlier chronicles had no interest at all in what went on outside the borders of the sultans’ empire. Even more obvious is the interest of Ottoman officials in sultanic campaigns in ‘infidel’ lands, the comings and goings of foreign ambassadors, Central Asian dervish sheiks on their pilgrimages to the holy city of Mecca or traders from Iran bringing raw silk to Bursa. As a result, the sultans’ campaigns in Hungary or Iran after the middle 1500s/930s–970s are best followed not by collating the bits and pieces of information provided in chronicles, as is inevitable when dealing with the fifteenth century. Rather the historian will analyse materials produced by Ottoman bureaucrats, in other words, archival sources. Unfortunately the number of spy reports on the internal affairs of Christian unbelievers (kâfir) and Shi’ite heretics (rafızi, mülhid, zındık) in the Istanbul archives is limited, and those that do survive are not necessarily very informative. But even so, the numerous sultanic commands relating to the goods that foreign traders might or might not export, the safe conducts given to Mecca pilgrims from outside the Empire and other documents of this kind show that leading Ottoman officials had to concern themselves intensively with developments that took place in localities outside the Empire’s borders. (...)

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Contents List of illustrations ix A note on transliteration and dates x Acknowledgements xi Map of the Ottoman Empire in Asia and Africa xiii Map of the Ottoman Empire in Europe xiv 1. Introduction 1 2. On sovereignty and subjects: expanding and safeguarding the Empire 27 3. On the margins of empire: clients and dependants 75 4. The strengths and weaknesses of Ottoman warfare 98 5. Of prisoners, slaves and the charity of strangers 119 6. Trade and foreigners 137 7. Relating to pilgrims and offering mediation 161 8. Sources of information on the outside world 179 9. Conclusion 211 Bibliography 220 Notes 263 Index 283

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I always wanted to learn more about the Ottoman Empire. In its height, its power was awesome, ruling a large part of the world that included Southeastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. This book looks like just the source I wanted. Thank You.

TGFRS!!
(thank god for rapidshare)

All the best,
D A L I