Gateway to the Mediterranean: An Environmental History of Late Ottoman Izmir

Onur İnal, 2025

Cambridge University Press

This in-depth exploration of Ottoman Izmir is the first book to study a Mediterranean port city through an environmental historical lens. Onur İnal documents the development of this major Eastern Mediterranean port-city from small coastal town, to transport hub, to a gateway linking the river valleys of Western Anatolia to worldwide markets. Key to this evolution, he argues, was the relationship between a city and countryside which not only shared a common past, but fundamentally reshaped each other during the years of the late Ottoman Empire. Introducing a cast of both human and non-human historical actors, including camels, horses and micro-organisms, İnal demonstrates the transformative impact of their interaction on the city and its hinterlands. By proposing the 'gateway city' model, this rich analysis provides an alternative way to understand the creation of an integrated economic and ecological space in Western Anatolia.

For more details: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/gateway-to-the-mediterranean/3FD96AAFD010FE94C647D7430E638A40

 

 

Becoming Ottoman: Converts, Renegades and Competing Loyalties in the Early Modern and Modern Ages

Yavuz Köse (Anthology Editor) , Petr Kucera (Anthology Editor) , Tobias Völker (Anthology Editor), 2025

I.B. Tauris

This book examines the role of Europeans who settled in the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 19th centuries and assumed “Ottoman identity”, be it by way of conversion to Islam and assimilating to the host society or by becoming loyal servants or subjects of the Ottoman state, identifying themselves as Ottomans, but retaining their faith. Bringing together a variety of case studies that reflect a broad range of individual experiences in changing historical circumstances, the book provides a detailed study of the process of Ottomanization. The book draws upon a variety of archival and other sources such as travelogues, diaries and folk epics, including lesser known examples, from early-modern Czech, Venetian and Wallachian views of converts, to case studies of 19th century British, German and Austrians who switched loyalty. They show that this process depended on a range of factors, from conversion, to integration into the culture of the ruling elites, fluency in the language, affiliation through family ties or marriage, and, most importantly, social status and professional rank.

For more details: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/becoming-ottoman-9780755640997/

 

 

Twelve Years Away from Constantinople (1896 - 1908)

Yervant Odian, introduction and English translation by Nanor Kebranian, 2025

Gomidas Institute

Twelve Years Away from Constantinople was an instant classic in its time. For well over a century, it has endured as a uniquely candid and entertaining account of Armenian émigré life during the reign of the authoritarian Ottoman sultan, Abdülhamid II.  Best known for his trenchant satires, its extraordinarily cosmopolitan author, Yervant Odian, was and remains one of the most recognizable and active figures of his generation. His multifaceted international career as journalist and civil society leader embedded him deeply in Ottoman-Armenian intellectual and revolutionary circles both in Constantinople and well beyond. This remarkably unabashed memoir relates his observations as a well-loved and committed member of those inner circles. His twelve-year journey begins with the 1896 massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman capital, when Odian, like many of his contemporaries fled as a political refugee to safer shores. His migrations led him to Greece, Egypt, France, Austria, and England, where he witnessed and withstood the numerous hardships plaguing the Armenians of the ‘senior diaspora.’ With Nanor Kebranian’s masterful rendering and probing introduction, this work is now available for the first in English translation.

For more details: https://gomidas.org/books/show/170#:~:text=Twelve%20Years%20Away%20from%20Constantinople%20was%20an%20instant%20classic%20in,authoritarian%20Ottoman%20sultan%2C%20Abd%C3%BClhamid%20II.

Lehrbuch des Osmanischen

Gisela Procházka-Eisl, 2025

V&R unipress

Die Studiengrammatik bietet eine praxisnahe Einführung in osmanische Originaltexte. Ziel ist es, Texte mittlerer Schwierigkeitsstufe nicht nur zu verstehen, sondern sie auch philologisch präzise zu transkribieren und ins Deutsche zu übersetzen. Der Zugang erfolgt ausschließlich über Originaltexte aus verschiedenen Genres, die nach steigendem Schwierigkeitsgrad ausgewählt wurden. Von Volksliedern und Heiratsanzeigen des frühen 20. Jahrhunderts über Zeitungsartikel und Gedichte bis hin zu magischen Texten des 16. und Chroniken des 15. Jahrhunderts eröffnet das Lehrwerk einen faszinierenden Einblick in die Vielfalt der osmanischen Schriftkultur.

For more details: https://www.vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com/themen-entdecken/literatur-sprach-und-kulturwissenschaften/sprach-und-literaturwissenschaften/sprachwissenschaft-allgemein/59852/lehrbuch-des-osmanischen

 

 

Զապէլ Եսայեան՝ Սեմին Վրայ - Բանալի Գրութիւններ Օսմանահպատակ Հայ եւ Թուրք Կեանքէ

Zabel Yessayan (1878 - 1943), ed. Nanor Kebranian, 2025

Gomidas Institute

This is a companion to the English translations that appeared as Zabel Yessayan on the Threshold: Key Texts on Armenians and Turks as Ottoman Subjects (Gomidas, 2023) and Captive Nights: From the Bosphorus to Gallipoli with Zabel Yessayan (The Press at CSU, 2021). Published between 1899 and 1927 and including three previously unknown and uncatalogued texts, these marginalized and/or under-appreciated works (both fiction and non-fiction) highlight Yessayan's groundbreaking insights on Muslim/Turkish women's rights and Armeno-Turkish solidarity.

For more details: https://gomidas.org/books/show/176

 

 

Ottoman Niš: Territorialisation and Urban Space in the Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Balkans

Florian Riedler, 2025

Schriften zur Balkanforschung 6, Austrian Academy of Sciences Press

Die Stadt Niš, die heute zu Serbien gehört, war etwa ein halbes Jahrtausend lang Teil des Osmanischen Reiches. Diese Studie legt die erste eingehende Untersuchung der Geschichte der Stadt während der letzten Phase der osmanischen Herrschaft von 1700 bis 1878 vor. Sie zeichnet die Entwicklung einer Stadt nach, die wegen ihrer Lage an einer der Hauptrouten durch den Balkan Durchgangsstation für Reisende und Händler war. Dank der im 18. Jahrhundert errichteten Festung wurde Niš zu einem wichtigen militärischen Stützpunkt in der Nähe der neuen Grenze zur Habsburgermonarchie. Im 19. Jahrhundert wurde die Stadt im Rahmen der osmanischen Modernisierungspolitik zu einem Vorzeigeprojekt der Stadterneuerung. Unter Rückgriff auf ein breites Spektrum von Quellen, darunter Stadtpläne und Bevölkerungsregister, wird das Wachstum von Niš und seiner städtischen Bevölkerung rekonstruiert. Der Schwerpunkt liegt dabei auf der Entwicklung des städtischen Raums, den die Studie als multiple, sich überlappende Territorien zu verstehen sucht. Besondere Aufmerksamkeit wird der Entwicklung des städtischen Lebens gewidmet, das von unterschiedlichen religiösen und ethnischen Gemeinschaften geprägt war. Die Studie zeichnet die Strategien der osmanischen Behörden und der lokalen Eliten zur Steuerung dieser vielfältigen Bevölkerung in verschiedenen Phasen der Stadtgeschichte nach. Insgesamt stellt sich Niš als eine typische osmanische Stadt dar, deren Entwicklung in umfassendere politische, wirtschaftliche und soziale Trends auf dem osmanischen Balkan eingebettet war.

For more details: https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at/produkt/ottoman-ni/99200983?name=ottoman-ni&product_form=5717

2024

Ottoman Plovdiv: Space, Architecture, and Population (14th‒17th Centuries)

Grigor Boykov, 2024

Schriften zur Balkanforschung, 5, Austrian Academy of Sciences Press

The significance of studying urban life and cities in the Balkans under Ottoman rule has long been recognized by modern academia, yet a comprehensive analysis of individual cities remains scarce. This monograph endeavors to bridge this gap by delving into the rich history of Plovdiv (known as Filibe in the Ottoman era), modern Bulgaria’s second-largest city. Drawing from the latest advancements in urban geo-humanities, this study positions Plovdiv as a window into the diverse human activities occurring within its built environment during the formative centuries of Ottoman governance. Moving beyond the constraints of conventional historical approaches, the monograph integrates spatial, architectural, and population data into a cohesive, georeferenced digital model of the city, allowing for a detailed exploration of urban landscape transformations and human presence over time and space. The study is grounded in a wealth of underexplored primary sources, including historical city plans, Ottoman architectural landmarks, visual materials, and a diverse array of Ottoman documentary and narrative sources. Through this rich tapestry of materials, the author conducts a diachronic analysis of the development of urban fabric, shedding light on the pivotal role of architectural landmarks and their patrons, and examining the fluctuations in population density across time and space. The book fosters a dialogue between urban space, Islamic architecture, and the city’s residents and proposes an analytical geospatial model that can serve as a useful framework for studying other cities in the region that lack contemporary Ottoman cadastral data.