The Ottoman Age of Exploration

I suspect this book was written for an academic audience with a strong background in Portuguese and Ottoman history. My guess is that when an editor discovered what a strong writer Giancarlo Casale is, it was decided to move this book from the world of academia to popular history. It was a wise choice.I have been reading history for many years and the topic of Ottoman voyages of discovery has never been raised. I would guess that Casale has made a significant advance in his field of Ottoman studies. Although I was the attended audience for his book, it was a nice discovery to make. Casale is a great writer and knows how to tell a compelling story. If you are looking for a good read and slightly out of the ordinary, this book is for you. Highly recommended!

Thoroughly enjoyable book and very practical in my own research. Having grown up on a western diet of accomplishments it was very interesting to read about how other groups were also expanding during the Age of Exploration. it was a great balance to my reading of the Portugueses exploration of South America at the same time putting historical decisions into sharper focus. Well worth read.

I normally use books to improve me level of knowledge and enrich my ideas. In this sense this book was a revelation because up to now I believed what the advertisement claimed that discoveries were only the accomplishment of the British, Spaniards, Portuguese, French, and Dutchmen, i.e. Christians. This book proves that the spirit of conquest resides in the heart of the entire human species and any claims of monopolies is false. Unfortunately great discoveries are accompanied by wars and bloodshed, but in a balanced universe one can not hope to secure only profits. In general I found the book well written and very interesting. If I have to find a fault is the fact that the author does not provide more details and historical facts about the nature of what he calls Rumis. He just mentions they are Ottomans, but at the time of Suleiman Ottomans were many nations from Budapest to Sudan and from Mesopotamia to Algeria.

This book analyzes the Ottoman age of exploration in relation to the Portuguese due to the long held argument that the ottomans were not capable of maritime exploration at the level that Europe was. The book discusses the Ottoman involvement in India and their explorations to East Africa and how these explorations helped build up and later tear down the empire. I highly recommend this book for Ottoman historians interested in a more recent study of ottoman history.

The story of the Ottoman entry should be better known.

I wanted a history of the Ottoman Empire. This book started the story from the 14th and 15th centuries when the Empire was fighting the Protuguese for domination of the spice trade in the Indian Ocean area. It was interesting reading, although not what I was looking for.

Great story-telling! Easy to read historical account of a well-known period but a completely unknown subject: Ottoman in the Indian Ocean and how the Ottoman position against the Portuguese informed, not only strategic geographic strongholds but also leadership transitions within the Ottoman State. The parts I enjoyed the most were specifically about key individuals and their rise to power positions via their networks, e.g. Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasha who was in fact born in Venice and was able to use his Venetian connections to kick start an Ottoman navy to sail out in the Indian Ocean.

This book is definitely a great read if you're interested in the military/explorative history of the Ottoman empire. It came in good condition and has held up with all of my reading and re-reading.

Well written, and illuminated an historical period and region I knew little about.

Good read for those interested in naval affairs and the Ottoman empire.It shows that the Ottomans were trying to defend the trade between Arabia and India while expanding into that arena and the Indian Ocean .Detailed and informative.