Week 3 Heather Weiss

Heather Weiss

Making the Mediterranean

Week 3

Reading Reflection

In the early modern era, the Mediterranean was truly a melting pot. It was not an East versus West dichotomy that exists for many today, and that many perceive it to have been for the past millennium. In fact, identity, including currently static ideas like religion and nationality, were extremely fluid in the 14th through 15th centuries (Lecture, 10/27/15). Many people went between east and west, trading Christianity for Islam and back multiple times throughout their lives. During this time period, religion was much more pragmatic and less spiritual. Becoming a Muslim did not necessarily mean anything more than the people you were currently trading with were Muslims as well. It was not uncommon in fact, for people to go from Italy to the Ottoman empire, converting to Islam and marrying a Muslim woman, and then returning to Christianity and a Christian wife later in life. While this concept seems foreign to us, the Mediterranean citizen as a wanderer was the norm. This was especially true for those from Italy.

Italy, especially Genoa and Venice, was the gateway to the eastern world. These city states were the gateway to the east as trading partners, banking partners, and with many exchanged citizens, Genoa, Venice, and Constantinople had favorable trade agreements and were inextricably linked (Venice and the Islamic World). This can be seen in Venetian architecture which heavily features traditionally eastern dome shapes and other eastern elements, as well as in the colony of Galata in Constantinople which was peopled by Italians who considered themselves Italian and who were granted many trade advantages like low import taxes and protection from seizure by the government (Venice and the Islamic World).

During this era, it was possible for someone from Italy to rise extremely high in the Ottoman empire. While many went to Constantinople to flee unwanted marriages, debts, and other hardship, there were also those who went for adventure and the ability to rise extremely high in the ranks of the Ottoman government. An extreme example of this is Gazanafer and Nurbanu who were the grand vizier and the wife of the sultan respectively (Safiye’s Household and Venetian Diplomacy). Arguably attaining the highest rank that could be achieved, these two Venetian citizens, despite being extremely important to the sultan and the Ottoman government, described themselves as Venetians and maintained ties with Venice, sharing gossip, encouraging trade, and strengthening the connection between the “eastern” style European city of Venice with the welcoming and cosmopolitan city of early modern Constantinople. These two Mediterranean citizens were examples of the layered identity that was possible at this time.

Today, the migrant crisis is increasing the exchange of people throughout the Mediterranean, but the culture of unity seems to have been lost. While in the early modern era, exchange was fluid and a change of religion was practical and accepted, now “foreigners” are looked at with distrust. In the 13th century, a migrant might have been greeted with more opportunity and acceptance than today, something that is due to the modern conception of nation state and borders as solid, defined, and immobile. As the migrant crisis increases and migration across mediterranean countries increases, hopefully practices and attitudes will shift to become more welcoming and to once again reunite the Mediterranean into a fluid region where all can make a living and advance themselves in any city.