BOOK: Casale, G. 2010. The Ottoman Age of Exploration. Oxford U. Press USA.

Src: H-Net list for Asian History and Culture (H-ASIA--at--H-NET.MSU.EDU)

April 15, 2010

Member Publication: "The Ottoman Age of Exploration" by Giancarlo Casale
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From: Giancarlo Casale (glcasale--at--gmail.com)

Dear List Members,

I'm pleased to announce the publication of my new book, The Ottoman Age of
Exploration (Oxford University Press USA, February 25, 2010). Book
description and table of contents follow. Thank you for your indulgence,

Giancarlo Casale

Description:

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 sixteenth 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.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: An Empire of the Mind (pp.3-12)
Chapter One: Selim the Navigator, 1512-1520 (pp.13-33)
Chapter Two: Ibrahim Pasha and the Age of Reconnaissance, 1520-1536
(pp.34-52)
Chapter Three: Hadim Süleiman Pasha's World War, 1536-1546 (pp.53-83)
Chapter Four: Rüstem Pasha versus the Indian Ocean Faction, 1546-1561
(pp.84-116)
Chapter Five: Sokollu Mehmed Pasha and the Apogee of Empire, 1561-1579
(pp.117-151)
Chapter Six: A Man, a Plan, a Canal: Mir Ali Beg's Expeditions to the
Swahili Coast, 1579-1589 (pp.152-179)
Chapter Seven: The Death of Politics (pp.180-204)

Notes: pp.205-248
Works Cited: pp.249-270
Index: pp.271-281

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