[...]... Viewed from another angle, political conflict between Iran and the Ottoman Empire did not prevent Ottoman courtly society from modelling itself on Iranian patterns, with the palace of Timur’s grandson Husayn Bay k ara the 12 ~ THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND THE WORLD AROUND IT ~ epitome of elegance and refinement A study of Ottoman ways of relating to the outside world must take these eastern and southern linkages... Ottoman world economy with its neighbours to the east 16 ~ THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND THE WORLD AROUND IT ~ ~ The abiding centrality of Istanbul Braudel’s world economies are supposed to possess but one capital and central region; whenever there are two rival centres, the world economy in question is emerging, decaying or else in the process of transition.55 It is of some interest to try to fit the Ottoman world. .. case, it does not make sense to assume that sultan and 8 ~ THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND THE WORLD AROUND IT ~ grand vizier were operating at cross-purposes, but rather that the rescript conveys the official Ottoman understanding of the situation, while the letter of the grand vizier is a move in the process of actual negotiation In most cases, though, we only possess the rescript, and this makes the Ottomans... of other Ottoman cities Istanbul, but also certain other metropolises such as Aleppo and Izmir thus were turned into the avenues of entry through which, in the closing decades of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Ottoman world economy was definitely annexed to the conquering ‘high capitalism’ centred in London and Paris 18 ~ THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND THE WORLD AROUND IT ~... had to concern themselves intensively with developments that took place in localities outside the Empire s borders 2 ~ THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND THE WORLD AROUND IT ~ ~ Islamic law and sultanic pragmatism In Islamic religious law (şeriat) and also in Ottoman official writing, it was customary to describe the world as being made up of the Darülislam ( the house of Islam’) and the Darülharb ( the house of... Venice or, later, France There was also the ‘real’ luxury trade, which quite often shaded off into diplomatic gift exchanges, and concerned items like the Ottoman carpets so appreciated by the nobility and rich merchants of Poland, Italy and even the Netherlands and England Or on the Ottoman side there was an interest in clocks and watches from central and then from western Europe, and in court circles,... or the Commonwealth of Poland-Lithuania and thus was at war with the sultan Thus the category, namely the outside world , that we have adopted here cuts across two categories accepted by Ottoman writers themselves The Ottomans probably would have spoken of the Islamic world that recognized the paramount status of the padişah in Istanbul on the one hand, and the domains of the various rulers of the. .. 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... though they were doubtless a constant source of disruption in the complicated command economy through which the Ottoman state apparatus attempted to secure the provisioning of the ruler’s court, the fighting forces and, last but not least, the inhabitants of the capital In addition, the Ottoman elite, and non-elite but reasonably prosperous townsmen, appreciated good-quality woollens from England, Venice... involved as well For in reality, there was no ‘iron curtain’ separating the Ottoman elites and their tax-paying subjects from the world outside the borders of the Empire, while the existence of a neat legal dichotomy between the Islamic and non-Islamic worlds might cause us to think the exact opposite In the absence of actual war, foreign merchants from India, Iran, Georgia and the various countries of . AM VI ~ THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND THE WORLD AROUND IT ~ territories in 1639/1048–9: the eastern frontier: 49 ~ The northern regions as a trouble spot in 1639/1048–9: 50 ~ Expanding Ottoman territory. 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. by Ottoman writers themselves. The Ottomans probably would have spoken of the Islamic world that recognized the paramount status of the padişah in Istanbul on the one hand, and the domains of the