The Frontier in Ottoman History: Old Ideas and New Myths

Abstract

‘The frontier in Ottoman history’. It is difficult to overestimate the significance of this phrase as a dominating concept within the limited range of formulations which have shaped the writing of Ottoman history since it emerged as a separate academic discipline nearly a century ago. Why should this be so, and why, after so long an interval, should it still be necessary to adopt a historiographical rather than a historical approach to the subject?

The published version of this paper reflects the intellectual stimulus afforded by the papers and resulting discussions at the original ‘Frontier in Question’ conference. My thanks are due, in particular to the present editors and to Manuel Lucena Giraldo, Alastair Hennessy, Eduardo Manzano Moreno, José de Souza Martins, and Willard Sunderland.