List of foreigners who were in the service of the Ottoman Empire information
This is an incomplete list that refers to those who were not from the Ottoman Empire, but later served the country. This may be militarily, as a diplomat, a spy, or any other way. Foreigners employed by the Sublime Porte, often renegades and refugees, were diverse in their ethnic origins, generally hailing from aristocratic families. Typically high-ranking individuals in Ottoman society, they were regarded as "invaluable" by the Sultan, and were therefore "generously rewarded" for their services.[1]
Italian historian Giancarlo Casale posits that it was the ability of the Ottomans to "accommodate diversity" and "embrace it fully as their own" which attracted foreigners to the country.[2] Those who converted to Islam in general, but especially while in the service of the Ottoman state, were considered by Christendom to have 'turned Turk'.[3][4][5][6]
The increased prevalence of foreign military officers in the Ottoman Empire after the mid-1800s is owed to the fact that non-Muslims were no longer required to convert to Islam to serve in the Ottoman army after the passing of the 1856 Reform Edict.[7] However, there are numerous notable cases before the Edict where conversion to Islam was not required. An example is Sinan 'The Great Jew', regarded as the right-hand man of famed Grand Admiral, Hayreddin Barbarossa.[8]
Sinan 'The Great Jew' by Johann Theodor de Bry, 1590s
^Gürkan, Emrah Safa (2012). Espionage in the 16th century Mediterranean: Secret diplomacy, Mediterranean go-betweens and the Ottoman Habsburg rivalry (Ph.D). Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University. p. 132.
^Casale, Giancarlo (2007). "The Ethnic Composition of Ottoman Ship Crews and the "Rumi Challenge" to Portuguese Identity". Medieval Encounters. 13 (1). Leiden: Brill: 140.
^Nicolay, Nicolas de (1595). The Nauigations, Peregrinations and Voyages Made Into Turkie. Translated by Thomas Washington. London: Thomas Dawson. p. 8.
^Vaughan, Dorothy M. (1954). Europe and the Turk: A Pattern of Alliances, 1350-1700. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. p. 282.
^Bennassar, Bartolomé; Bennassar, Lucile (17 August 2017). Les Chrétiens d'Allah (in French). France: Place des éditeurs. p. 258.
^Isom-Verhaaren, Christine (2004). "Shifting Identities: Foreign State Servants in France and the Ottoman Empire". Journal of Early Modern History. 8 (1–2). Leiden: Brill: 113.
^Gülsoy, Ufuk (1999). "ISLAHAT FERMANI" [REFORM EDICT]. İslâm Ansiklopedisi (in Turkish). TDV İslâm Araştırmaları Merkezi.
^Kritzler, Edward (November 3, 2009). Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. pp. 59–60. ISBN 978-0-7679-1952-4.
and 27 Related for: List of foreigners who were in the service of the Ottoman Empire information
This is an incomplete list that refers to those whowere not from theOttomanEmpire, but later served the country. This may be militarily, as a diplomat...
Slavery intheOttomanEmpire was a major institution and a significant part oftheOttomanEmpire's economy and traditional society. The main sources of slaves...
conquests ofthe 7th century. Inthe 11th century theempire experienced a major catastrophe in which most of its distant territories in Anatolia were lost...
Düna. The military ofthe Swedish empire is commonly (and wrongfully) recognized only as the Caroleans, which werein fact not inservice until the late...
with the Russian Empire. At the end ofthe crisis, Ottoman rule inthe Balkans and its international prestige were severely diminished, and theEmpire lost...
the capital ofthe Eastern Roman Empire (also known as the Byzantine Empire; 330–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and theOttoman Empire...
continued to exist until the fall of Constantinople to theOttomanEmpirein 1453. During most of its existence, theempire remained the most powerful economic...
In 1880, theOttomanEmpire conceeded to Britain the right to search and seize any vessel to Ottoman territories suspected of carrying slaves. The British...
integrated into theOttomanEmpire as the Eyalet of Tunis. TheOttoman presence inthe Maghreb began with the takeover of Algiers in 1516 by theOttoman Turkish...
became the capital ofthe First Republic of Armenia as thousands of survivors ofthe Armenian genocide intheOttomanEmpire arrived inthe area. The city...
trade of enslaved Africans until the late 19th century. During the Armenian genocide in 1915–1923, many Armenians were enslaved by Muslims inOttoman Syria...
generals who had seen combat, and at least 30 ofthe men who served as a minister under him had seen action inthe wars against France, theOttomanEmpire, and...
became one ofthe ruling classes oftheOttomanEmpire, rivalling the Turkish aristocracy. The brightest ofthe Janissaries were sent to the palace institution...
vast Roman territories were organized in senatorial and imperial provinces. The first two centuries oftheEmpire saw a period of unprecedented stability...
from the Balkans, Caucasus, and Crimea. Under the control ofthe Three Pashas, theOttomanEmpire entered World War I in 1914, during which theOttoman government...
The Songhai Empire was a state located inthe western part ofthe Sahel during the 15th and 16th centuries. At its peak, it was one ofthe largest African...
sometimes, they were persecuted to the point of genocide, by various states, including theOttomanEmpire and its successor state, which committed the Hamidian...
various state-sanctions intheOttomanEmpire, Yazidis historically have lived peacefully in proximity with their Sunni neighbours. In modern times, Yazidis...
TheEmpireof Japan, also referred to as the Japanese Empire, Imperial Japan, or simply Japan, was the Japanese nation-state that existed from the Meiji...
Global Information