Review (PDF) The Ottoman Age Of Exploration
In 1517, the Ottoman Sultan Selim "the Grim" conquered Egypt and brought his empire for the first time in history into direct contact with the trading world of the Indian Ocean. During the decades that followed, the Ottomans became progressively more engaged in the affairs of this vast and previously unfamiliar region, eventually to the point of launching a systematic ideological, military and commercial challenge to the Portuguese Empire, their main rival for control of the lucrative trade routes of maritime Asia. The Ottoman Age of Exploration is the first comprehensive historical account of this century-long struggle for global dominance, a struggle that raged from the shores of the Mediterranean to the Straits of Malacca, and from the interior of Africa to the steppes of Central Asia. Based on extensive research in the archives of Turkey and Portugal, as well as materials written on three continents and in a half dozen languages, it presents an unprecedented picture of the global reach of the Ottoman state during the 16th century. It does so through a dramatic recounting of the lives of sultans and viziers, spies, corsairs, soldiers-of-fortune, and women from the imperial harem. Challenging traditional narratives of Western dominance, it argues that the Ottomans were not only active participants in the Age of Exploration, but ultimately bested the Portuguese in the game of global politics by using sea power, dynastic prestige, and commercial savoir faire to create their own imperial dominion throughout the Indian Ocean.
Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 11 hours and 5 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Audible Studios
Audible.com Release Date: February 24, 2011
Whispersync for Voice: Ready
Language: English
ASIN: B004P7882Q
Best Sellers Rank: #208 in Books > Audible Audiobooks > History > Middle East #447 in Books > History > Middle East > Turkey #594 in Books > Audible Audiobooks > Nonfiction > Travel
This interesting and clearly written book is an effort to provide a more balanced view of the Ottoman Empire. Casale is concerned with rebutting or modifying the view that the Ottoman Empire was an inward looking, land based polity that failed to exhibit the dynamism of European states in exploring new territories and pursuing commercial opportunities. To dispell this view of the Ottoman Empire, Casale provides a fairly detailed narrative of Ottoman involvement in the Indian Ocean, particularly their rivalry with the Portugese. Casale argues well that this was a major effort by the Ottomans, that this was a novel effort, that the Ottoman court exhibited considerable interest in new geographic knowledge, and that commercial interests, particularly managing the spice trade from Southeast Asia, were of considerable importance. Casale's narrative, which is interesting in its own right, largely substantiates these points and is consistent with Casale's general argument. Viewed through the lens of Ottoman activities in the Indian Ocean, the Ottoman Empire does look quite a bit like several of the agressively expansionist and mercantilist European states.Casale's arguments, however, have some defects. His European comparator is Portugal, the major Indian Ocean rival for the Ottomans. But, Casale is comparing a relatively weak European state with arguably the most powerful state in the European state system. To really make a strong case, Casale would have to compare the Ottoman Empire in detail with a comparable European state, which would mean a detailed comparison with Hapsburg Spain, not Portugal.
I thoroughly enjoyed this volume, finishing it in a little over a week (aided, admittedly, by the fact that I spent half of that time on a long weekend at a seaside resort where the weather was unseasonably chilly and wet). It is well-written and was handsomely produced by the Oxford University Press, with more than twenty carefully selected illustrations that help the reader to correctly envision the warships of the Turks and Portuguese and the trading ports and fortresses of the Indian Ocean during the sixteenth century. There are also four useful but cartographically basic maps that help the reader to place the location of the ports and battles discussed.To the extent that most western readers know anything substantial about the Ottoman Empire in the sixteenth century, we tend to think of it as a Mediterranean and Balkan power, gradually gobbling up the remaining Christian fortresses along the coasts of Greece and Cyprus while also pushing north up the Danube Valley. But Casale's book reminds us that the Empire's growth in western Asia and north Africa during the first four decades of the sixteenth century was even more explosive.In 1517, the Empire's eastern frontier ran across Asia Minor from roughly the Taursus Mountains in the south to Trebizond in the north. In that year, the Ottoman Sultan Selim "the Grim" went to war against the Mamluk Sultanate, another Islamic power that had dominated the eastern Mediterranean since the final defeat and expulsion of the crusaders two centuries earlier. Selim's army made short work of the Mamluks, incorporating their possessions in Syria, Palestine and Egypt into his empire and thereby more than doubling its size in less than a year.
I had been meaning to read this book for a couple of years, and just got around to reading it this week. It's fairly short, barely 200 pages, so you can read it in less than a day. The writing is excellent, the maps fairly good and the illustrations interesting. I take some exception to the title; it was less an age of exploration than political and military adventuring into the Indian Ocean. These were rather large scale and it is surprising that the Portuguese survived; luck and ruthlessness, perhaps. Much of the story Casale relates concerns Ottoman viziers, appointees in Egypt and naval commanders. It's mostly from the Ottoman point of view, and anyone interested in Ottoman activities in the Red Sea, Yemen and beyond will find this book well worth the read. Casale's major point is that the "Age of Discovery" histories are usually told from the stance of European discoverers, with all the other "Others" seen as victims; this book shows, as intended, the Ottomans as no victims but a major player in the age.Casale has some discussion of how the Ottomans had little knowledge of wider world geography--not much of a large body of recent works in Arabic were available to them, and he argues that it was indeed an age of discovery rather similar to that of Portugal. I'll leave that aspect for a reader to decide. The book has much to offer aside from that thesis. The Ottomans took Egypt and became responsible for the safety of Mecca and Medina, and were as much pulled into the region of the Red Sea and impelled by an urge to discover. They used the Egyptian port of Suez as an armory and base, and managed to construct a number of fleets there, despite most naval resources (especially wood) having to be imported from rather far off.
The Ottoman Age of Exploration Seismic Stratigraphy, Basin Analysis and Reservoir Characterisation (Handbook of Geophysical Exploration: Seismic Exploration) The Age of Beloveds: Love and the Beloved in Early-Modern Ottoman and European Culture and Society The Singing Turk: Ottoman Power and Operatic Emotions on the European Stage from the Siege of Vienna to the Age of Napoleon The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age 1300-1600 Libraries in the Information Age: An Introduction and Career Exploration, 3rd Edition (Library and Information Science Text) Ottoman Cuisine: A Rich Culinary Tradition The Ottoman Kitchen: Modern Recipes from Turkey, Greece, the Balkans, Lebanon, and Syria Ottoman Kitchen: Modern Recipes from Turkey, Greece, the Balkans, Lebanon, Syria and Beyond (Cookbooks) Endowments, Rulers and Community: Waqf Al-Haramayn in Ottoman Algiers (Studies in Islamic Law and Society) Tell This in My Memory: Stories of Enslavement from Egypt, Sudan, and the Ottoman Empire Race and Slavery in the Middle East: Histories of Trans-Saharan Africans in 19th-Century Egypt, Sudan, and the Ottoman Mediterranean A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East Frontiers of the State in the Late Ottoman Empire: Transjordan, 1850-1921 (Cambridge Middle East Studies) Victory Secrets Of Ottoman Turks: Power Tactics & Strategy For Success The Ottoman Gulf The Ottoman Scramble for Africa: Empire and Diplomacy in the Sahara and the Hijaz The Ottoman Gulf: The Creation of Kuwait, Saudia Arabia, and Qatar Jewish Salonica: Between the Ottoman Empire and Modern Greece (Stanford Studies in Jewish History and C) History of the Ottoman Empire (Illustrated)
