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Fifteenth Century Ottoman-Mamluk Networks: Trade and Knowledge
Abstract
Both Arabic and Turkish evidence in narrative, diplomatic, and archival sources (i.e. inheritance records, custom registers, etc.) suggests that a solid relationship of trade was established between the Ottoman and Mamluk lands. Although existing scholarship proves us the existence of these networks, no one has considered the social, cultural, and intellectual ramifications of these networks for the relationship between these two societies. The investigation into these implications lead us to a larger historical question of what types of networks these merchants build during their sojourns and how did they contribute to the dissemination and production of knowledge. Recently, there has been an awakening interest in the intellectual networks of the Islamicate world, and specialists have argued that trade networks often overlap with intellectual ones. This paper investigates the connection between the mercantile and intellectual networks and the impact of these connections on the relationship between the Ottoman and Mamluk societies. Thus, by looking into Arabic and Turkish narrative, diplomatic, and archival sources it offers a new lens to evaluate the relationship between the Ottoman and Mamluk societies that has been primarily defined by warfare and conquest, as well as into the broader Islamicate Mediterranean.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Ottoman Empire
Sub Area
13th-18th Centuries