Introduction
Dealing with Identity
in the Ottoman Empire
Christine Isom-Verhaaren and Kent F. Schull
The Ottomans established one of the longest lived, most powerful, and largest
empires in history, lasting for over six centuries and ruled by one continuous dy-
nasty from the end of the thirteenth century to the early twentieth. Their empire
left its mark on the regions known today as southeastern Europe, the Middle
East, and North Africa. It stretched from the eastern gates of Vienna to the bor-
ders of contemporary Iran in the east, Morocco in the west, north to the Black
Sea, and south to the tip of Arabia.
The Ottomans exercised soft power through diplomacy, alliances, trade, pa-
tronage of the arts and sciences, and the movements of large numbers of people,
extending their influence beyond the territory they controlled politically and
militarily. Throughout its existence, the empire was the epitome of connectivity
between East and West, a crossroads of Eurasia, Africa, and the Indian Ocean
basin.
As a result of these exchanges and interactions, within the Ottoman ter-
ritories existed an incredibly diverse population whose individuals, groups, and
cities negotiated their identities. Over the past two decades, scholars and the
broader world have rediscovered the importance of the Ottoman Empire to Eu-
ropean, Middle Eastern, and world history, and a central focus of this interest has
been the social and cultural diversity of the empire.
This volume traces the development, transformations, and expansion of
Ottoman identity from the point of view of the center of imperial power and also
of those outside the center but within the Ottoman sphere of influence to see how
they adopted, adapted, rejected, and contested this identity.
The diversity of peoples, religions, and languages that made up the empire
over the course of its long existence makes the issue of identity very complicated.
This book provides an introduction to the social and cultural history of the
empire from its beginnings as a pastoral-nomadic principality in Anatolia and
Southeastern Europe to its emergence as a major world empire and then to its