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The Nature of the Ottoman City

The Nature of the Ottoman City

The Nature of the Ottoman City

Water and Urban Space in Sofia, 1380s–1910s
Author:
Published:
November 2024
Format:
Adobe eBook Reader
ISBN:
9781009558808

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£90.00
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£90.00 GBP
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    In this innovative interdisciplinary work, Stefan Peychev problematizes the dominant narrative of decline and stagnation in Ottoman Sofia. Drawing on a range of sources and perspectives, including environmental and urban history, archaeology and anthropology, he examines the creation and experience of urban space and place. By employing a longue durée framework and considering empire-wide developments, this work challenges the epistemological boundaries that have traditionally separated Ottoman from post-Ottoman space and the Middle East from Southeast Europe. Peychev argues instead for an integrated understanding of Sofia's water infrastructure, in which Ottoman ideas of the built environment fused with local cultural and technological traditions to create an efficient and long-lasting system.

    • Deconstructs the dominant narrative of Ottoman Sofia's stagnation and decline
    • Integrates perspectives from multiple disciplines
    • Breaks down the epistemological boundaries that separate the Ottoman from post-Ottoman space, and the Middle East from Southeast Europe

    Reviews & endorsements

    'Overcoming the historiographies of Bulgarian nationalism and Ottoman exceptionalism, this important book offers us an entirely new history of Ottoman Sofia told through its waters. Never again should Ottoman urban histories ignore the environment.' Alan Mikhail, Yale University

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    Product details

    November 2024
    Adobe eBook Reader
    9781009558808
    0 pages
    Not yet published - available from November 2024

    Table of Contents

    • Introduction
    • 1. Water Supply and the Making of Early Modern Ottoman Sofia
    • 2. Thermal Springs, Public Baths, and Ottoman Sofia's Culture of Water
    • 3. Coping with Disaster: Sofia's Long Nineteenth Century
    • Epilogue
    • Bibliography
    • Index.
      Author
    • Stefan Peychev

      Stefan Peychev is a historian of the Ottoman Empire, its successor states, and the wider world, with research and teaching interests in environmental history, urban history, travel and cultural encounter, history of science, and global history.