The Ottoman Empire and Safavid Iran, 1639–1683

Explores how the longest peace of the early modern Middle East was established and consolidated

• Furthers our understanding of peace-keeping and conflict settlement between Middle Eastern states
• Unearths scattered and unknown source material, including Ottoman archival documents, extant Safavid documents, chronicles, histories, mission reports, travelogues, protocol registers, codifications and correspondence compilations, and European travelogues and mission reports
• Sheds light on the hitherto-overlooked dimensions of the early modern diplomacy of the Ottoman Empire in Asia as well as in Europe
• Introduces a new methodology to identify and grasp the early modern diplomatic practices in the Middle East
• Brings to light half a century of international relations in the early modern Middle East
• Shows that lively engagement and innovative role in diplomacy should not be sought only in permanent missions; ad-hoc contacts could be equally sophisticated and contentful

Ottoman-Safavid relations after 1639 have been dismissed as marginal and assumed not to have produced sufficient documentation to facilitate a study, wherefore the subject matter has lacked even an introduction providing basic facts, let alone a comprehensive treatment. This book establishes for the first time the mission exchanges, correspondence, negotiations, and borderland encounters by drawing on scattered and hitherto-untapped archival documents, chronicle entries, and travelogues by the Ottomans, Safavids, and Europeans. Working up the information unearthed thereby, it reconstructs the groundwork of these dealings, highlights trends, and contextualizes the facts.

The book refutes the assumption that mid-seventeenth-century interstate scene of the Middle East was eventless, and documents how the parties in question intensively bargained, displayed goodwill, made demands, delivered threats, presented displays of might, asked for privileges as well as concessions, and brought in third parties to their relations, all within an unequal relationship in strength, hierarchy, order of precedence, ranks, and protocol.