The Ottoman Empire was a state of frontiers, internal and external. Engaged in intermittent conflict with the Persians to the East, Orthodox Russia to the north, and Catholic Europe to the West, the empire also contended internally with religious minorities, ethnic secessions, and dynastic struggles. This session will focus on the Ottoman Empire across multiple contexts, whether attempting to secure contested terrain in North Africa against European encroachment, managing cross-border migration along the frontier with Safavid Persia, or attempting to form an alliance with Spain, a state that for centuries had been a bitter enemy of Islam and the Ottoman state.

Through this session, presenters will follow common threads to question the nature of identity, dynastic loyalty, and borders. What was the Ottoman Empire aside from lines on a map? What did pledges of loyalty and acceptance of Ottoman sovereignty mean? To what extent were the sultans in Istanbul able to exert influence on distant regions, and how did the agency of local actors and foreign powers impact these influences?

This session will also question the narrative of the Ottoman Empire as a state in decline after the 18^th century, subject to the financial and military influence of other powers and governed by an isolated Istanbul court. Instead, the evidence demonstrates an Ottoman Empire that was capable of reform, adaptable to both global and local conditions, and constantly redefining what it meant to be Ottoman through shifting frontiers, evolving loyalties, and contingency.