Ottoman Seapower and Levantine Diplomacy in the Age of Discovery by Palmira Brummett. State University of New York series in the Social and Economic History of the Middle East. ISBN 0 7914 1701 8 (Hdbk) ISBN O 7914 1702 6 (Pbk). 283 Pages. (Pbk).

This work examines the military, diplomatic and economic relations of the Ottoman Empire with her middle eastern neighbours during the first twenty years of the 16th century.

This was a critical period in the regions history as it witnessed a fierce struggle for control of the area by the three great Islamic powers of the age; Ottoman Turkey, Safivid Persia and Mameluke Egypt-Syria. Also appearing as bit-players in this drama were the Venetians and the Portuguese who were the dominant naval powers in the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean respectively.

To the south lay the medieval Mameluke Empire; formally the strong man of the region, the Mamelukes were in terminal decline - politically fragmented, economically stagnant and technologically backward they were dealt a crippling blow when the Portuguese cut the Indian spice trade, upon whose revenue the Mamelukes were heavily dependant. In the east was the rising power of Safivid Persia led by the charismatic Shah Ismail, a follower of the heretical Shia sect of Islam. Persia was militarily strong however she lacked modern firearm weaponry; a deficiency which was to prove critical when her armies met the Ottomans on the field of Chaldiran in 1514 and were mown down by arquebus and cannon. It was the Ottomans who were the most technically advanced and it was the Ottomans who won the struggle for control, completely overrunning the Mameluke Empire in 1516-17.

The book is divided into two parts. The first section examines Ottoman foreign policy towards the Levant. Here Ottoman - Safivi and Mameluke - Safivi diplomatic relations are examined in turn before concluding with a discussion of the blossoming Ottoman naval power at the time.

This last chapter is particularly valuable as most histories of Mediterranean naval warfare of the sixteenth century usually prefer to being their story with the Barbarrossa brothers mid-way through the first half of the century. The second section examines trade and economic activity in the area. In this section the author argues that it was control of the east-west trade routes that was the primary driver in the wars of the region rather than the religious, dynastic and territorial motivations that were responsible for the concurrent wars in western Christendom.

The author concludes with the assertion that it was the development of a strong navy that enabled the Ottomans to subvert Venetian naval power in the eastern Mediterranean and to conquer the Mamelukes.

Ms. Brummett has a rather dense narrative style and the work is no easy read. Nethertheless it is worth the effort as the book provides a valuable insight into a period of history that was vital to the development of the Ottoman Empire but which has tended to be somewhat ignored by western histories in favour of periods of greater European - Ottoman antagonisms.

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