6 | Living in the Ottoman Realm
service. This loyalty Hayreddin displayed by submitting Algiers to Selim I and
ruling it as his governor and later immediately answering Süleyman’s command
to become admiral of the Ottoman fleet and sailing for Istanbul.
The inscription on the mosque, in which Hayreddin proclaimed to the in-
habitants of Algiers that he was a ruler, a fighter for Islam, and that his father was
a Turk, demonstrates the importance of time and place. Hayreddin used this term
in the context of naval operations in the western Mediterranean, where Turkish
speakers were a novelty and Turkish-speaking seafarers were leading resistance
to Hapsburg expansion into North Africa. At this time, in the early to mid-
sixteenth century, Europeans, such as the French scholar and traveler Guillaume
Postel, used “Turk” to mean Muslim. Consequently, the answer to the question
“Who was Hayreddin?” is a complicated one, needing great precision about what
was or is meant by words that have very different meanings for us today.
Overview of the Book
Ottoman history often focuses on the state and its institutions, but that is only
part of the history of the Ottoman dynasty and the empire created by its mem-
bers. Their realm expanded greatly in the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries,
stabilized in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and then lost territories
until its final dissolution after World War I, all while undergoing an enormous
administrative and demographic transformation. The empire and its territories
were characterized by fluctuation, and viewing it as static distorts it and its his-
tory. This book explores the question of what it meant to be Ottoman over the
long course of the empire’s existence from inception to dissolution, recognizing
the dynamic nature of human identity. Another aim of this book is to present the
lives of a variety of persons, peoples, groups, and places to provide a glimpse into
the daily realities of living in the Ottoman realm. We hope to bring the empire
to life for readers who are interested in the peoples and groups that lived under
Ottoman rule. Given such a vast period and space, it is not possible to represent
all peoples; nevertheless, we offer many examples that show how individuals in-
teracted with the concept of belonging in the Ottoman polity. Taken together, the
chapters provide a picture of everyday life for those who lived in the lands ruled
by the Ottoman dynasty.
A final chapter, “Connections and Questions to Consider,” connects the
contents, themes, and subjects of chapters across the volume, even though the
people, places, or events discussed may be several hundred years apart. Several
chapters share issues of identity that include gender, imperial politics and pa-
tronage, urban centers, and religion. By pointing out the connections among the
actors, it is our hope that readers see the continuities, changes, development, and
dynamics of Ottoman identity over the course of the empire’s existence.