The Workshop “Layers of law and maritoriality in the Ottoman Mediterranean” will be organized by Group B01 “The Ideas of the Muslim Community and State Systems”.

 

Date & Time: March 9, 2023, 15:00–17:00

 

Michael Talbot (University of Greenwich)

“From Abode of Holy War to the Waters of the Sublime State: Layers of law and maritoriality in the Ottoman Mediterranean”

Abstract:
The Mediterranean Sea was a place of violent confrontation and interconnected commerce in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, but was also the setting for struggles and compromises over sovereignty. The Ottoman Empire and its autonomous Regencies in North Africa controlled a significant part of the Mediterranean coast, and it is through exploring their understandings of their authority over those coasts and the seas beyond that we can better understand shifting attitudes and practices around sovereignty, diplomacy, and commerce across the later 17^th and 18^th centuries. Looking at the Ottoman Empire and the Regency of Algiers, this paper will discuss how ‘maritoriality’ in the Ottoman world developed as a legal response to new military and commercial challenges that required a series of temporary and permanent innovations to regulate coastal and maritime spaces and commerce. 

 

Moderator: KONDO Nobuaki (ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)