Governing the Frontiers in the Ottoman Empire

Based on many previously unused sources from Ottoman and British archives, Governing the Frontiers in the Ottoman Empire offers a micro-history to understand the nineteenth century Ottoman reforms on the eastern frontiers. By examining the administrative, military and fiscal transformation of Muş, a multi-ethnic, multi-religious sub-province in the Ottoman East, it shows how the reforms were not top-down and were shaped according to local particularities. The book also provides a story of the notables, tribes and peasants of a frontier region. Focusing on the relations between state-notables, notables-tribes, notables-peasants and finally tribes-peasants, the book shows both the causes of contention and collaborations between the parties.

Gülseren Duman Koç, Ph.D. (2018), Boğaziçi University, is an assistant professor of History at Istanbul Medeniyet University, Turkey. She has published articles and book chapters in English and Turkish.