The Climate of Rebellion in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire

Sam White is an Associate Professor of History at Ohio State University (OSU) and was Assistant Professor of Environmental History at Oberlin College until 2013, when he joined the OSU faculty. He has received grants and fellowships from Columbia University, the American Research Institute in Turkey and the Delmas Foundation. His articles have appeared in the International Journal of Middle East Studies and Environmental History, among other publications. This is his first book.

“Sam White offers an exciting new approach to the problem of the ‘decline of the Ottoman Empire’ and specifically to the period of turmoil and revolt known as the ‘Celali Rebellions.’ His investigation of the effects of climate change on Ottoman agriculture and economy and the ways in which different social groups tried to manage the ensuing difficulties will revolutionize our understanding of Ottoman and Middle Eastern history.” – Linda T. Darling, University of Arizona

• Introduction; Part I. An Imperial Ecology: 1. Regions, resources, and settlement; 2. Growth and its limits; 3. Disasters of the later sixteenth century; 4. Land at the margins: Karaman and Larende; Part II. The Little Ice Age Crisis: 5. The Little Ice Age in the Near East; 6. The great drought; 7. The Celali Rebellion; 8. In the wake of the Celalis: climate and crisis in the seventeenth century; Part III. Ecological Transformation: 9. Desert and sown; 10. City and country; 11. Provisioning and commerce; Conclusion.