The ethnic composition of Ottoman ship crews and the "Rumi challenge" to Portuguese identity

Medieval Encounters

Volumn 13, Issue 1, 2007, Pages 122-144

  Casale, Giancarlo ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA   (United States)

Author keywords

Ethnic Identity; Indian Ocean; Maritime history; Ottomans; Portuguese

Indexed keywords

EID: 37349100627     PISSN: 13807854     EISSN: 15700674     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/157006707X174041     Document Type: Review

References (83)

1. See Charles Boxer's classic Race Relations in the Portuguese Colonial 1415-1825 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1963), 41-85. Empire, 1415-1825 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1963), 41-85
2. On the Ottoman Empire's mechanisms for incorporating religious and ethnic diversity, especially for earlier periods of Ottoman history, addition to the numerous works cited below, Albany: State University of New York Press diversity, especially for earlier periods of Ottoman history, see, in addition to the numerous works cited below, Heath Lowry, The Nature of the Early Ottoman State (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003)
3. Despite the importance of this topic, it is one that has attracted very little systematic attention from historians. The following discussion is largely inspired by Salih Özbaran's recent historiographical work on the question of Ottoman identity, Bir Osmanli Kimliǧi: 14.-17. Yüzyillarda Rūm/Rūmi Aidiyet ve İmgeleri (Istanbul: Kitap Yayinevi, 2004); little systematic attention from historians. The following discussion is largely inspired by Salih Özbaran's recent historiographical work on the question of Ottoman identity, Bir Osmanli Kimliǧi: 14.-17. Yüzyillarda Rūm/Rūmi Aidiyet ve İmgeleri (Istanbul: Kitap Yayinevi, 2004)
4. and Cemal Kafadar's Between Two Worlds: The Construction of the Ottoman State (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1995)
5. see also Bernard Lewis, The Multiple Identities of the Middle East (London: Weidenfield and Nicolson, 1998)
6. For a collection of articles by different authors on the changing image and meaning of Turk in the West from the fourteenth century to the present, Dünyada Türk İmgesi, ed. Özlem Kumrular (Istanbul: Kitap Yayinevi, 2005). and meaning of "Turk" in the West from the fourteenth century to the present, see Dünyada Türk İmgesi, ed. Özlem Kumrular (Istanbul: Kitap Yayinevi, 2005)
7. For a somewhat critical reinterpretation of this commonly held view, see Hakan Erdem, "Osmanli Kaynaklarindan Yansiyan Türk İmaj(lar)i," in Dünyada Türk İmgesi, 13-26
8. On the development of "Ottoman" identity in the nineteenth "'Osmanli' Kimliǧi century, see İlber Ortayli, "'Osmanli' Kimliǧi," Cogito, 19 (Summer 1999), 77-85
9. For an example of a contemporary document in which all of these usages (i.e., Turk as a nomad or foreigner, Ottoman as a member of the ruling dynasty, and Muslim for an Ottoman subject), the anonymous Kitābu mesālihi'l-müslimīn ve menāfi'i'l-mū'minīn, ed. Yaşar Yücel (Ankara: Ankara Üniversitesi Dil ve Tarih-Coǧrafya Fakültesi Yayinlari, 1981), 56-72; (i.e., "Turk" as a nomad or foreigner, "Ottoman" as a member of the ruling dynasty, and "Muslim" for an Ottoman subject), see the anonymous Kitābu mesālihi'l-müslimīn ve menāfi'i'l-mū'minīn, ed. Yaşar Yücel (Ankara: Ankara Üniversitesi Dil ve Tarih-Coǧrafya Fakültesi Yayinlari, 1981), 56-72
10. as discussed by Baki Tezcan in "Searching for Osman: A Reassessment Deposition of the Ottoman Sultan Osman (1618-1622) (Ph.D. diss.rinceton University, 2001), 101-2. of the Deposition of the Ottoman Sultan Osman (1618-1622)" (Ph.D. diss.rinceton University, 2001), 101-2
11. Özbaran, Bir Osmanli Kimliǧi, 89-108
12. On this question specifically, see Özbaran, "Ottomans as 'Rumes' in Portuguese Sources in the Sixteenth Century," Portuguese Studies, 17 (2002), 64-74
13. Quoted in Cornell H. Fleischer, Bureaucrat and Intellectual in the Âli, 1541-1600 Ottoman Empire: The Historian Mustafa Âli, 1541-1600 (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1986), 254
14. On the recruitment of Portuguese officers, see G. V. Scammell "European Seafaring in Asia, c. 1500-1750," South Asia, 19 (1966), 27-8
15. Cengiz Orhonlu, "Hint Kaptanliǧi ve Piri Reis," Belleten, 34, no. 134 (1967), 236
16. Orhonlu, "Seydi Ali Reis," Tarih Enstitüsü Dergisi, 1 (October 1970), 40
17. Longworth Dames, "The Portuguese and the Turks in the Indian Ocean in the 16th Century," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1 (January 1921), 24
18. Ibn Iyas, Journal d'un Bourgeois du Caire: Chronique d'Ibn Iyās trans. Gaston Wiet (Paris: Libraire Armand Colin, 1945), 1: 431
19. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. 4, 2nd ed. (Leiden: Brill, I960-), s.v Khādim Suleyman Pasha. "Khādim Suleyman Pasha."
20. On the career of Sefer Reis, see Giancarlo Casale, "Safer Reis: An Büyükkarci Yilmaz Istanbul: Simurg Ottoman Corsair of the 16th-Century Indian Ocean," in Uygurlardan Osmanliya: Şinasi Tekin'in Anisina, ed. Günay Kut and Fatma Büyükkarci Yilmaz (Istanbul: Simurg, 2005), 271-84
21. "Particular Relation of the Expedition of Solyman Pacha from Suez to against the Portuguese at Diu, Written by a Venetian Officer Who Was Pressed into Turkish Service on that Occasion, in General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels...., ed. Robert Kerr, 22 vols. (Edinburgh: William Blackwood, 1824), 7: 259. India against the Portuguese at Diu, Written by a Venetian Officer Who Was Pressed into Turkish Service on that Occasion," in General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels...., ed. Robert Kerr, 22 vols. (Edinburgh: William Blackwood, 1824), 7: 259
22. "Particular Relation of the Expedition of Solyman Pacha," 260
23. Luciano Ribeiro, "O Primeiro Cerco de Diu," Studia, 1 (January 1958), 247
24. "Particular Relation of the Expedition of Solyman Pacha," 261-6
25. Diogo do Couto, Da Ásia de João de Barros e de Diogo do Couto, 24 vols. (Lisbon: Na Regia officina tipografica, 1777-78), vol. 5, bk. 5, chap. 8
26. István Rákóczi, "Adern Turca e Diu Portuguesa documento de 1538, in A Carreira da Índia e as Rotas dos Estreitos: Actas do VIII Seminário Internacional de História Indo-portuguesa, ed. A. T. de Matos and L. F. Thomaz (Angra do Heroísmo: O Seminario, 1998), 519-26. num documento de 1538," in A Carreira da Índia e as Rotas dos Estreitos: Actas do VIII Seminário Internacional de História Indo-portuguesa, ed. A. T. de Matos and L. F. Thomaz (Angra do Heroísmo: O Seminario, 1998), 519-26
27. These figures are taken from Ribeiro, "O Primeiro Cerco de Diu," 259
28. Maria Augusta Lima Cruz, "Exiles and renegades in early sixteenth century Portuguese Asia," in Historiography of Europeans in Africa and Asia, 1540-1800, ed. Anthony Disney (Aldershot, England: Variorum, 1995), 245
29. Lisbon, A.N.T.T, Corpo Cronólogicot. 1, maço 89, doc.9 fol. 6a. fol. 6a
30. Manuel de Faria e Sousa, Ásia Portuguesa, trans. Maria Vitória Garcia Santos Ferreira, 6 vols. (Lisbon: Livraria Civilização, 1945-47), 5: 13. Vitória Garcia Santos Ferreira, 6 vols. (Lisbon: Livraria Civilização, 1945-47), 5: 13
31. On the Ottomans' use of levies to man the banks of their Mediterranean galleys, galleys, see Colin Imber, "The Navy of Süleyman the Magnificent," Archivum Ottomanicum, 6 (1980), 265-8
32. The oarsmen of Sefer Reis's fleet of 1565. for example, comprised counterfeiters and other convicted criminals available in Egypt. Istanbul, Başbakanlik Devlet Arşivleri, Mühimme Defterleri 6, no. 256, 122. "counterfeiters and other convicted criminals available in Egypt." Istanbul, Başbakanlik Devlet Arşivleri, Mühimme Defterleri 6, no. 256, 122
33. For other examples from Egypt, Baghdad and the Yemen, see Imber "The Navy of Süleyman the Magnificent," 268-9
34. Perhaps the earliest record of rowers being collected from East Africa dating from about 1540, is in the anonymous Kānūnnāme ve Hcombining dot belowutcombining dot belowūtcombining dot below-i Hümāyūn, Istanbul, Veliyüddin Efendi Kütü phanesi, no. 1970, fol. 42b. dating from about 1540, is in the anonymous Kānūnnāme ve Hcombining dot belowutcombining dot belowūtcombining dot below-i Hümāyūn, Istanbul, Veliyüddin Efendi Kütü phanesi, no. 1970, fol. 42b
35. See, for example, Documentos sobre os Portugueses em Moçambique e África Central 1497-1840, ed. A. da Silva Rego and T. W. Baxter, 9 vols. (Lisbon: 1962-89), 8: 154. na África Central 1497-1840, ed. A. da Silva Rego and T. W. Baxter, 9 vols. (Lisbon: n.p., 1962-89), 8: 154
36. For a description of Ottoman attempts to recruit Portuguese captives as pilotsilots, see Lisbon, A.N.T.T, Corpo Cronológicot. 1, maço 59, doc. 104
37. See below, nn. 43-6
38. See Istanbul, Başbakanlik Devlet Arşivleri, Mühimme Defterleri 6, no. 256, 122. Defterleri 6, no. 256, 122
39. In 1565 the governor of Egypt was ordered to supply "twenty-five harquebusiers and twenty-five Circassian archers to each of the ten galleys being prepared in Suez for Sefer Reis. Istanbul, Başbakanlik Devlet Arşivleri, Mühimme Defterleri 6, no. 256, 122. This corresponds quite closely to Portuguese accounts of the distribution of archers and harquebusiers in Hadim Suleyman's armada of 1538 cited above; in the Mediterranean, harquebusiers were regularly mandated only after the battle of Lepanto in 1571 harquebusiers and twenty-five Circassian archers" to each of the ten galleys being prepared in Suez for Sefer Reis. Istanbul, Başbakanlik Devlet Arşivleri, Mühimme Defterleri 6, no. 256, 122. This corresponds quite closely to Portuguese accounts of the distribution of archers and harquebusiers in Hadim Suleyman's armada of 1538 cited above; in the Mediterranean, harquebusiers were regularly mandated only after the battle of Lepanto in 1571
40. See Imber, "The Navy of Süleyman the Magnificent," 272
41. See the remarks of the Veronese traveler Filippo Pigafetta in "Il Suez e il Mar Rosso in una Relazione inedita de Filippo Pigafetta (1567-77), ed. Alberto Magnaghit. 1, Bolletino della Società Geografica Italiana, 4th ser., 48, no. 11 (1910), 308-9; Golfo di Suez e il Mar Rosso in una Relazione inedita de Filippo Pigafetta (1567-77)," ed. Alberto Magnaghit. 1, Bolletino della Società Geografica Italiana, 4th ser., 48, no. 11 (1910), 308-9
42. see also Z. A. Desai, "Relations of India with the Middle Eastern Centuries Countries during the l6th-17th Centuries," Journal of the Oriental Institute, 23 (1973-74), 82
43. Michael Pearson, Merchants and Rulers in Gujarat: The Response to the Sixteenth Century Portuguese in the Sixteenth Century (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1976), 41
44. Political History of the Yemen at the Beginning of the 16th Century According to Contemporary Arabic Sources According to Contemporary Arabic Sources, ed. and trans. L. O. Schumann (Amsterdam: Djambatan, 1961), 32
45. R. B. Serjeant, The Portuguese off the South Arabian Coast: Hadrami Yemeni and European Accounts of Dutch Pirates off Mocha in the Seventeenth Century Chronicles with Yemeni and European Accounts of Dutch Pirates off Mocha in the Seventeenth Century (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963), 50
46. Seydi Ali Reis, The Travels and Adventures of Sidi Ali Reis in India Central Asia and Persia During the Years 1553-1556 Afghanistan, Central Asia and Persia During the Years 1553-1556, trans. A. Vambery (London: Luzac, 1899), 29
47. "Particular Relation of the Expedition of Solyman Pacha," 271
48. "Particular Relation of the Expedition of Solyman Pacha," 272
49. "Particular Relation of the Expedition of Solyman Pacha," 286
50. "Particular Relation of the Expedition of Solyman Pacha," 268
51. Corpo Diplomático Portuguez, 6 vols. (Paris: J. P. Aillaud, 1846) 3: 396-7. 3: 396-7
52. Pigafetta, "Il Golfo di Suez e il Mar Rosso," 294. "Vi Pontremolier il servizio delle galere sono anche parecchi rinnegari italiani col sangiaco, che è di Pontremolier il servizio delle galere."
53. Pigafetta, "Il Golfo di Suez e il Mar Rosso," 305
54. Corpo Diplomático Portuguez, 3: 396-7
55. Serjeant, The Portuguese off the South Arabian Coast, 60, 85
56. Couto, Da Ásia, vol. 6, bk. 10, chap. 2
57. Cruz, "Exiles and renegades in early sixteenth-century Portuguese History Asia," 246; more generally, see Sanjay Subrahmanyam, The Portuguese Empire in Asia, 1500-1700: A Political and Economic History (London and New York: Longman, 1993), 249-56
58. "[J]untamente com a mercaduria levão muitos christãos comprados e outras engenados pera Turquia onde os fazem ser Turcos, e isto por não aver em Ormus hum bispo que com cuidado vigie sobre as aimas donde vem muito dano a fazenda de Vossa Magestade e perigo a India porque estes renegados sabem os portos e são os que dão os avisos de corno podem vir as armadas a India. Documentação Ultramarina Portuguesa, 8 vols. (Lisbon: Centro de Estudos Históricos Ultramarinos da Junta de Investigação do Ultramar, 1960-73), 1: 163. comprados e outras engenados pera Turquia onde os fazem ser Turcos, e isto por não aver em Ormus hum bispo que com cuidado vigie sobre as aimas donde vem muito dano a fazenda de Vossa Magestade e perigo a India porque estes renegados sabem os portos e são os que dão os avisos de corno podem vir as armadas a India." Documentação Ultramarina Portuguesa, 8 vols. (Lisbon: Centro de Estudos Históricos Ultramarinos da Junta de Investigação do Ultramar, 1960-73), 1: 163
59. For a roughly contemporary literary example of corsairs and conversion from the Mediterranean, from the Mediterranean, see Kafadar, Between Two Worlds, 83
60. more generally, see Peter L. Wilsonirate Utopias: Moorish Corsairs and European Renegadoes (New York: Autonomedia, 1995). European Renegadoes (New York: Autonomedia, 1995)
61. Couto, Da Ásia, vol. 5, bk. 1, chap. 9
62. Couto, Da Ásia, vol. 4, bk. 1, chap. 6
63. Pierre du Jarric, Akbar and the Jesuits, trans. C. H. Payne (London George Routledge and Sons, 1926), 174
64. On Kurtoǧlu Hizir's captivity, see "La Foudre du Bibliothèque Nationale Yémen, ou conquête du Yémen par les Othomans," ed. and trans. Silvestre de Sacy, Notes et Extraits des Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Nationale, 4 (1788), 472
65. on Piri Reis, who was a captive of the Knights of Rhodes, see The Ottoman Response to European Expansion: Studies on Ottoman-Portuguese Relations in the Indian Ocean and Ottoman Administration in the Arab Lands during the Sixteenth Century (Istanbul: Isis Press, 1994), 177. Özbaran, The Ottoman Response to European Expansion: Studies on Ottoman-Portuguese Relations in the Indian Ocean and Ottoman Administration in the Arab Lands during the Sixteenth Century (Istanbul: Isis Press, 1994), 177
66. Couto, Da Ásia, vol. 10, bk. 7, chap. 8
67. "Não me espanto de minha adversa fortunaorque são de guerra, e mais quero ser cativo de cristāos, de quem já outra vez fui em Espanha, que ser comido dos Zimbas bárbaros e desumanos. João Dos Santos, Etiópia Oriental, ed. Luis de Albuquerque, 2 vols. (Lisbon: Alfa, 1989), 1: 37. sucessos de guerra, e mais quero ser cativo de cristāos, de quem já outra vez fui em Espanha, que ser comido dos Zimbas bárbaros e desumanos." João Dos Santos, Etiópia Oriental, ed. Luis de Albuquerque, 2 vols. (Lisbon: Alfa, 1989), 1: 37
68. "Alegrai-vos e esperai em Deus, que já eu fui cativo de pior do que vós sois, que foi o Malabar, e agora estou neste estado que vedes; assim vos pode sseceder a vós. Dos Santos, Etiópia Oriental, 1: 242. senhor do que vós sois, que foi o Malabar, e agora estou neste estado que vedes; assim vos pode sseceder a vós." Dos Santos, Etiópia Oriental, 1: 242
69. "Mirale Beque foi mandado para Portugal, onde se converteu e se fez cristāo, no que restaurou para a sua alma todas as perdas e quebras que tinha recebido no corpo cristāo, no que restaurou para a sua alma todas as perdas e quebras que tinha recebido no corpo." Dos Santos, Etiópia Oriental, 1: 242
70. Fernão Mendes Pinto, The Travels of Mendes Pinto, ed. and trans Rebecca D. Catz (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989), 5
71. Pinto, Travels, 5
72. Boletim da Filmoteca Ultramarina Portuguesa, 16 (1960), 692
73. quoted in Fernand Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, trans. Siân Reynolds, 2 vols. (New York: Harper and Row, 1972), 2: 760. in the Age of Philip II, trans. Siân Reynolds, 2 vols. (New York: Harper and Row, 1972), 2: 760
74. On the limited prospects for integration among conversos in Portuguese Asia, Subrahmanyam, The Portuguese Empire in Asia, 267-9. Asia, see Subrahmanyam, The Portuguese Empire in Asia, 267-9
75. "Estes Rumes como procedem dos Gregos, tem se por mais honrados que Turcos, e na verdade lhe são aventejados em costumes, limpeza e valor; e onde quer que chegão logo se nomeão por Rumes a boca chea. E a mor afronta que se lhe pode fazer he chamar a hum destes Turcoor averem a todos por baixos, torpes e desprimorosos: esta he a rezão deste nome de Rume. Couto, Da Ásia, 4, bk. 8, chap. 9. os Turcos, e na verdade lhe são aventejados em costumes, limpeza e valor; e onde quer que chegão logo se nomeão por Rumes a boca chea. E a mor afronta que se lhe pode fazer he chamar a hum destes Turcoor averem a todos por baixos, torpes e desprimorosos: esta he a rezão deste nome de Rume." Couto, Da Ásia, vol. 4, bk. 8, chap. 9
76. See above, nn. 1-7
77. Boxer, Race Relations in the Portuguese Colonial Empire, 81
78. On the huge number of "natives" employed on ships of the Estado for example, the articles by G. V. Scammell, Seafaring in the Estado da India, c. 1500-1750, Mare Liberum, 9 (1995), 441-52; da India, see, for example, the articles by G. V. Scammell, "Seafaring in the Estado da India, c. 1500-1750," Mare Liberum, 9 (1995), 441-52
79. and "Indigenous Assistance in the Establishment of Portuguese Power Asia in the Sixteenth Century, Modern Asian Studies, 14, no. 1 (1980), 1-11. Interestingly, this indigenous assistance even included ethnic Anatolian Turks. At one point during the siege of Diu, Rumis who managed to breach walls of the fortress were betrayed by an Anatolian Turkish woman married to one of the Portuguese whom they assumed would instead act as their accomplice. in Asia in the Sixteenth Century," Modern Asian Studies, 14, no. 1 (1980), 1-11. Interestingly, this "indigenous assistance" even included ethnic Anatolian Turks. At one point during the siege of Diu, "Rumis" who managed to breach walls of the fortress were betrayed by an Anatolian Turkish woman married to one of the Portuguese whom they assumed would instead act as their accomplice
80. "Estão tão mistos os Portugueses com estes infiês mouros corno gentios, como podem estar em Constantinopla entre perssunça os gregos com os turcos, e não tem nenhum genero de vida os portuguezes quà, senão esta contretação e mistiço comercio de todas as mercadorias com tudo genero d'enfiel, enemigo da cruz e da lei e de todas as vertudes. Documenta Indica, ed. Joseph Wicki, 11 vols. (Rome: Institutum Historicum Societatis Iesu, 1948-94), 3: 454. asi mouros corno gentios, como podem estar em Constantinopla entre perssunça os gregos com os turcos, e não tem nenhum genero de vida os portuguezes quà, senão esta contretação e mistiço comercio de todas as mercadorias com tudo genero d'enfiel, enemigo da cruz e da lei e de todas as vertudes." Documenta Indica, ed. Joseph Wicki, 11 vols. (Rome: Institutum Historicum Societatis Iesu, 1948-94), 3: 454
81. José Alberto Rodrigues da Silva Tavim, "Os Judeus e a expansão portuguesa na Índia durante o sécolo XVI. O exemplo de Isaac do Cairo: Espião, 'Lingua,' e Judeu de Cochim de Cima, Arquivos do Centro Cultural Calouste Gulbenkian, 23 (1994), 234-6. expansão portuguesa na Índia durante o sécolo XVI. O exemplo de Isaac do Cairo: Espião, 'Lingua,' e Judeu de Cochim de Cima," Arquivos do Centro Cultural Calouste Gulbenkian, 23 (1994), 234-6
82. Couto, Da Ásia, vol. 7, bk. 7, chap. 5
83. See, for example, Subrahmanyam, "The Trading World of the Western Interpretation Indian Ocean, 1546-1565: A Political Interpretation," in A Carreira da İndia e as Rotas dos Estreitos, 225