Christian Networks in the Ottoman Empire: A Transnational History

Observers and historians continue to marvel at the diversity and complexity of the Ottoman Empire. This book explores the significant and multifaceted role that Orthodox Christian networks played in the sultan’s realm from the 17th century until WWI. These multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, and multi-confessional formations contributed fundamentally to the political, economic, social, and cultural development of the Empire as well as to its gradual disintegration. Bringing together scholars from most Balkan countries, Christian Networks in the Ottoman Empire describes the variety of Orthodox Christian networks under Ottoman rule. The examples examined include commercial relations, intellectual networks, educational systems, religious dynamics, consular activities, and revolutionary movements, and involve Muslims and Christians, Romanians and Serbs, Bulgarians and Greeks, Albanians and Turks. The contributions show that the Christian populations and their elites were an integral part of Ottoman society. The geographical spread of the formal and informal networks enriches our understanding of the terms ‘center’ and ‘periphery.’ They were either centered within the official Ottoman borders and extended their activities to other states and empires, or vice versa, located elsewhere, but also active in the Ottoman Empire. A common feature of these formations is their constant fluctuation, which enables a dynamic understanding of Ottoman history.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements, List of maps, tables and illustrations, Introduction Eleonora Naxidou, Yura KonstantinovaPart I: Internal networks and their trans-Balkan expansionCommercial Networks in the Balkans (Late 18th and Early 19th Centuries) Evguenia DavidovaLocal Elites and Provincial Administration: Social Networks in the Province of Nish in the Early Tanzimat Era Yonca KöksalTrade Networks in the Danube Region in the 1840s: The Case of Apostolos Arsakis ?tefan PetrescuTracing Ideological Networks in Newspapers: Alexander Battenberg's Trip to Greece and the Balkan Federation (1883) Stamatia FotiadouAlbanian Orthodox Intellectuals and Dilemmas of Discourses: Networks, Mentalities and National Narratives (late 19th-early 20th centuries) Elias G. SkoulidasRevolutionary and Paramilitary Networks in European Turkey: Ideological and Political Counteractions and Interactions (1878-1908) Zorka ParvanovaPart II: External networks and their intra-Balkan connections Establishing Consular Networks in the Balkans: An Overview George Koutzakiotis Consular Jurisdiction and the Rise of Nation-States in the Long Nineteenth CenturySimeon A. SimeonovA Balkan Network of Liberal Thinkers and their Federal Ideas (1860-1870) Eleonora Naxidou Propagating the Gospel among Nominal Christians: American Protestant Missionaries in the 19th-century Ottoman Balkans Elmira VassilevaBetween Politics and Charity: Russian Material Aid to the Balkan Orthodox Churches (1830-1877) Lora GerdTrade Networks and Political Influence: Russia and the Bulgarian Merchants Yura KonstantinovaConclusion Eleonora Naxidou, Yura KonstantinovaList of Contributors, Index

About the Author :
Yura Konstantinova is Professor at the Institute of Balkan Studies with the Centre of Thracology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Eleonora Naxidou is Associate Professor of Modern and Contemporary History of South-Eastern Europe at the Department of History and Ethnology of the Democritus University of Thrace.

Review :
"Christian Networks in the Ottoman Empire is focused on the long nineteenth century, but effectively spans the whole period from the late seventeenth century to the end of the First World War. The dozen contributions are linked not only through their subject matter but are beautifully coordinated by their methodological unity. Network analysis is at the center of all texts, and it is employed imaginatively and flexibly, adjusted to the rich source material and the concrete questions asked when describing commercial and, more broadly, social relations, consular activities, educational systems, religious, intellectual, and revolutionary dynamics. The work offers a comprehensive overview of the late Ottoman period highlighting both internal networks as well as interactions with regions outside the Balkans, stressing their interconnectedness. This volume is not merely a scholarly success but a practical network accomplishment, having smoothly interwoven the separate articles of scholars from Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, and Russia." --Maria Todorova