Self-Portrait of the Ottoman Red Sea, 20th of July 1777

Abstract

A close exegesis of an official document (extracted from the Mühimme-i Mıŝır series of the Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi) reveals the special nature of the Otto-man Red Sea world, as it was lived and imagined by its administrators and practitio-ners in the late eighteenth century. An exploration of the various spatialities and tem-poralities embedded in its content and form unveils a complex universe, involving local and global politics, ecological and geographical contingencies, the movement of people and commodities. Beyond presenting an intimate sketch of the place, this paper also reflects upon the practice of history, re-imagined as an embarkation upon a sea-borne craft made of text and emphasizing the act of writing itself.