Becoming Ottomans: Sephardi Jews and Imperial Citizenship in the Modern Era

history of the geography and cartography of the early modern world. Especially neglected in these areas he feels are the achievements of the Portuguese, Arabs, and Ottomans. In short, it was the newness of the European encounters with the New World that gave them dominance over the older ongoing experiences with the East, as succinctly stated by the author (pp. 29–30). Brotton is quite good at recounting the exploration of the Portuguese to the East around Africa and their interaction with locals along the way and in the East Indies as well their negotiations with the Spanish over disputed Asian authority and territories, culminating with the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. He also addresses effectively the resulting Portuguese contributions to geography and cartography. His commentary on the Ottoman and Arab inputs is regrettably somewhat more general. Throughout his discussions, he nonetheless emphasizes that trade and diplomacy were among the major motivators behind the pursuit of geography and cartography in Europe during this period. To support his assertions, Brotton aptly cites numerous period maps, and the text is well illustrated with black-and-white specimens of them. He also regularly employs globes such as that by Martin Behaim in 1490 and those pictured on the Spheres tapestries of c. 1520–1530 by Bernard van Orley as exemplars. It is refreshing to see the skilled use of these often neglected sources of geographic and cartographic evidence. While this book provides a good handy introduction to the subject at hand, not even thirty years ago were Brotton’s ideas particularly profound or new. As his bibliography confirms, studies on Portuguese, Arab, and Ottoman geography and cartography were not even rare then, and they have become far less so since. Although this claims to be an updated edition of the 1997 original, its text, bibliography, and notes do not reflect any significant additions or revisions. It remains a well-ordered and clearly and concisely written volume, and this newer edition should be of interest to a broad audience of devotees of the history of discovery, exploration, and cartography.