Ottoman History Podcast

Although previous historiography has emphasized the dichotomy of Christianity vs. Islam in the early modern Mediterranean, scholars have increasingly come to appreciate instability and fluidity of these categories embodied by various social characters that straddled both worlds called go-betweens. In this installment of the Ottoman History Podcast, Emrah Safa Gürkan explains the role of one such category of go-betweens, the renegades, in shaping Mediterranean politics and society.

Much like pirates, corsairs performed raids on coastal populations and interrupted shipping in the Mediterranean. However, unlike pirates, corsairs had the legal backing of sovereign states, who sponsored their activities. In the inaugural episode of the Ottoman History Podcast, Emrah Safa Gürkan discusses the role of these go-betweens in the early modern Mediterranean and suggests new ways of thinking about corsairs outside of the Christianity vs. Islam dichotomy.

How can a single, lowly podcast deal with the history of an empire that reigned on three continents over a period of 600 years? In this episode, Emrah Safa Gürkan and Chris Gratien introduce the Ottoman History Podcast, explain its main goals, give a brief overview of the Ottoman Empire, and discuss some of the major issues to consider when approaching the topic of Ottoman history.