Animals in rural Egypt became enmeshed in social relationships and made
possible many tasks otherwise impossible. Rather than focus on what animals
represented or symbolized, Mikhail discusses their social and economic
functions, as Ottoman Egypt cannot be understood without acknowledging... číst
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The Ottoman Empire was a hub of flourishing intellectual fervor, geopolitical power, and enlightened pluralistic rule. At the helm of its ascent was the omnipotent Sultan Selim I (1470-1520), who, with the aid of his extraordinarily gifted mother, Gulbahar, hugely expanded the empire, propelling it onto the world stage. Aware of centuries of European suppression of Islamic history, Alan Mikhail centers Selim's Ottoman Empire & Islam as the very pivots of global history, redefining such world-changing events as Christopher Columbus's voyages which originated, in fact, as a Catholic jihad that would come to view Native Americans as somehow "Moorish" the Protestant Reformation, the trans-atlantic slave trade, and the dramatic Ottoman seizure of the Middle East and North Africa. Drawing on previously unexamined sources and written in gripping detail, Mikhail's groundbreaking account vividly recaptures Selim's life and world. An historical masterwork, God's Shadow radically reshapes our understanding of a world we thought we knew. A leading historian of his generation, Alan Mikhail, Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History at Yale University, has reforged our understandings of the past through his previous three prize-winning books on the history of Middle East
Focusing on the dramatic life of Sultan Selim I, this global history reexamines the Ottoman Empire's significant role in shaping the modern world. Alan Mikhail utilizes previously overlooked sources to challenge distorted narratives and misconceptions about Islamic history, as well as the traditional "rise of the West" theories. By highlighting Selim's conquests and their impact, the book offers a transformative perspective on the empire's historical importance and its extensive influence over vast territories and populations.
The book explores the transformation of Ottoman imperial sovereignty through shifts in the control of natural resources. It delves into how these changes influenced political power dynamics and governance within the empire, highlighting the intricate relationship between resource management and imperial authority. Through detailed analysis, it reveals the broader implications for the empire's structure and stability over time.
The early modern Middle East was a crucial zone of connection between Europe and the Mediterranean world, on the one hand, and South Asia, the Indian Ocean, and sub-Saharan Africa, on the other. Accordingly, global trade, climate, and disease both affected and were affected by what was happening in the Middle East s many environments. The trans-territorial and trans-temporal character of environmental history helps shed new light on the history of the region, and Alan Mikhail s latest tackles major topics in environmental history: natural resource management, climate, human and animal labor, water control, disease, and the politics of nature. It also reveals how one of the world s most important religious traditions, Islam, has related to the natural world. This is a model book that sets the course for Middle East environmental history."