This dissertation reintegrates the Mediterranean into the history of the development of the early modern British Empire. During the seventeenth century, the Mediterranean emerged as a distinct political, legal and commercial space within the wider currents of English expansion. The political and legal regimes of the sea shaped the evolution of the English presence there and the rulers of the Ottoman Empire, the North African regencies, and Italian states such as Tuscany and Genoa limited the expansion of English sovereignty. As a result, the sea offers a different perspective on the history of English expansion than that found in imperial histories set in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The development of the English presence in the Mediterranean highlights the relative weakness of the early modern English state and the extent to which other polities limited the expansion of its sovereign authority. However, this dissertation also aims to move beyond an imperial historiography that distinguishes the wider development of English trade and navigation from the growth of English empire. Through the latter half of the seventeenth century and first half of the eighteenth, the Crown's claims to jurisdiction over its subjects and their ships projected English authority into the Mediterranean. This dissertation examines how the English state extended its authority within a pluralistic maritime environment that lay largely beyond the reach of its claims to empire. By studying the jurisdictional contests that arose when the Crown’s claims to authority over its subjects and their ships collided with the sovereignty of Mediterranean polities, it shows how the intersection of diverse sovereign and legal authorities defined the organization of English trade and navigation. Moreover, as the English state extended its authority overseas during the early modern period, it called into question the location of sovereignty and jurisdictional authority in Mediterranean waters as well as in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. English expansion in the Mediterranean and the political evolution of the sea were part of a global process whereby states and empires sought to establish their authority over oceanic space and networks of trade. / History

This dissertation began with a question: what does it mean to say or grasp "the economy"? This dissertation examines it examines on-the-ground trading, mining, and money lending between Russian and Qing subjects in Qing Mongolian territories and southeastern Siberia, primarily, though not exclusively, during the years 1860 - 1911. This dissertation uses archival records from Mongolia, the Russian Federation, and the People's Republic of China, in addition to travel accounts, economic surveys, gazetteers, and periodicals. Combining Chinese, Manchu, Mongolian, and Russian primary sources, it provides a trans-imperial examination of both how quotidian trade was carried out as well as the broader intellectual and political contexts that shaped the parameters of economic life. A bourgeoning labor market developed in Mongolia in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The legalization of Russian trade provided new labor opportunities for Mongolians and Russian alike, particularly in working in transportation, wool washing, and mining. In addition to the transportation industry examines cases of gold-mining, Russian-Mongolian debt, and Buddhist monasteries' roles in facilitating trade.

The dissertation examines the production of knowledge and architecture through the German-sponsored construction of the Ottoman railway network, comprising four discrete projects: the railways of European Turkey, the Anatolian railways, the Baghdad railway and the Hejaz railway and its Palestinian tributaries. The German construction of the Ottoman railway network is an historic event that proffers the opportunity to critically reconsider the epistemological tenets of expertise in broader political, economic and cultural structures distinct from the normative creative processes that dominate the historiography of empires. The dissertation capitalizes on the ambiguous colonial nature of the German role in the architecture, engineering, and urbanism of the late Ottoman empire and situates it as a variegated and occasionally dialogic model of European cultural expansionism by way of a process identified here as ambiguous transmutation.

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This thesis examines the administration of the Late Roman or Early Byzantine Empire under Maurice (582-602). His reign is not commonly known, and he is often given brief mention only together with the other rulers following the reign of Justinian the Great, although his era spans twenty eventful years. / Indeed, his rule is of considerable importance since it is in his time that we first hear about new administrative structures such as the Exarchates of Carthage and Ravenna. / The focal point of this thesis is the military and civil administration of the Empire at the end of the sixth century. In order to arrive at a more precise picture of these subjects, different types of materials have been analyzed, such as military handbooks, numismatic data and laws, as well as the literary sources of the reign. Among the latter, the most valuable is the Histories of Theophylact Simocatta. It has been seen as important, or even essential, to relate the more technical material to this literary source. / The conclusions reached from this study are various. From the numismatic evidence we can see that there was considerably more stability in monetary matters in the East and the West than is sometimes assumed. By comparing expenditures in general, and subsidies paid especially, at different times in Late Roman or Byzantine history, we learn that the "gold drain" on the Empire's resources was not necessarily as devastating as is sometimes thought. With regard to the military administration, the malaise of frequent unrest among the soldiers is traced to problems of internal structure besetting the military establishment for various reasons, including bad choices of commanding officers. / Finally, changes in both military and civil administration are often seen as developments of an evolutionary kind rather than as arbitrary innovations established by Imperial fiat.

Peu de personnes se rappellent de la présence de la France en Inde. Quelques parties de l’Inde sont restées françaises jusqu’en 1954. À cette date, l’Inde française, consistant de quatre petits établissements (Pondichéry, Yanaon, Karikal et Mahé), était en pleine décadence et éclipsée par d’autres colonies françaises, plus grandes, plus lucratives et plus importantes pour la Métropole. L’Indochine et l’Algérie ne sont que deux exemples. Toutefois, les Français n’étaient pas disposés à abandonner leurs possessions en Inde sans résistance. Le présent mémoire cherche à expliquer la valeur des possessions françaises en Inde et les raisons de la fin de la tutelle française. Le titre du mémoire indique qu’un certain changement a eu lieu dans la politique française vis-à-vis de ses possessions en Inde. L’étude commence par un résumé de la situation politique et économique de l’Inde française depuis la fin de la dernière occupation anglaise en 1814 jusqu’à la fin de la Première Guerre mondiale. L’année 1920 est choisie comme point de départ de la période visée par le mémoire. Portant sur les années 1920, le premier chapitre examine l’hégémonie du parti Gaebelé qui a eu toutes les caractéristiques d’une dictature. Indifférentes à la vie politique de l’Inde française, les autorités métropolitaines étaient surtout attirées par le commerce que la colonie offrait dans la production de tissus et l’exportation d’arachides. Après la chute du parti Gaebelé, l’Inde française a été plongée dans une longue période d’agitation, un thème clé du deuxième chapitre sur les années 1930. Inconscientes de la réalité politique, les autorités métropolitaines ont toujours accordé la priorité au commerce. Durant les années 1940, l’Inde française n’a jamais arrêté de se rapprocher de l’Inde britannique. Ce rapprochement a aussi persisté lorsque l’Inde britannique est devenue l’Union indienne en 1947. Soudainement, les Français ont senti le besoin de réaffirmer leur position d’autorité en Inde française. Le commerce est passé au second plan au profit d’une série de réformes politiques. Toutefois, ce brusque changement de politique fut trop tardif. Le quatrième chapitre, centré surtout sur la période de 1950 à 1954 et vu à travers l’exemple d’Édouard Goubert, a souligné la méconnaissance des autorités métropolitaines des réalités qui confrontaient l’Inde française. Lorsque Goubert a cessé de servir comme porte-parole et principal allié du gouvernement français en Inde, les possessions françaises en Inde furent rattachées une par une à l’Union indienne. Rétrospectivement, les faits économiques, vitaux pour le début du mémoire, sont quasiment absents de deux derniers chapitres. Se retrouvant face à la menace de perdre leurs possessions en Inde, les Français ont compris que l’Inde française était précieuse pour des raisons autres que le commerce. Un accent particulier fut mis pour souligner ces avantages culturels et politiques. De petite taille, les possessions françaises étaient importantes pour l’ordre et la stabilité dans les autres colonies de l’Empire. Parallèlement, elles représentaient des points d’appui pour l’expansion de la culture française dans l’immense sous-continent indien. / Few people today can relate to the presence of the French in India. That said, a few cities in India remained under the control of the French until 1954. By then, French India, consisting of four cities (Pondicherry, Yanaon, Mahe, and Karikal) had reached its irrevocable point of decline, overshadowed by other French colonies that were larger, more lucrative and more important to France. Indochina and Algeria are but two examples. Even so, it must be stated that the French were reluctant to abandon their possessions in India without any resistance. This particular thesis seeks to explain the value of the French possessions in India and the reasons that led to their demise. The title of the thesis suggests that a certain change occurred in the politics of the French vis-à-vis their possessions in India. The thesis commences with a summary of the political and economic situation in French India from the end of the last British occupation in 1814 until the end of World War I. The year 1920 was chosen as a starting point for this thesis. Focusing on the 1920’s, the first chapter examines the hegemony of the Gaebelé party which had all the characteristics of a dictatorship. Indifferent to the political climate in French India, politicians in Paris felt most attracted by the colony’s commerce, especially its production of textiles and exports of oleaginous plants. After the fall of the Gaebelé party, French India plunged into a long period of turmoil and political unrest. This is a key theme of the second chapter analyzing the 1930’s. Unaware of the political realities, authorities in Paris continuously prioritized the colony’s commerce. During the 1940’s, French India never stopped drawing closer to British India. This connection persisted after the independence of British India in 1947. Suddenly, the French felt an urge to reaffirm their position of authority in French India. The colony’s commerce fell second to a series of political reforms. Nevertheless, the timing of this abrupt shift was too late. The fourth chapter, centered on the period from 1950 to 1954, confirms the lack of awareness of the French authorities in Paris for the realities confronting French India. The example of Edouard Goubert is a case in point. As soon as Goubert ceased to serve as the main spokesperson and ally of the French government in French India, the remaining French possessions were incorporated one by one to India. In retrospect, facts concerning the colony’s commerce and economy, while being vital in the beginning, are hardly mentioned in the last two chapters of the thesis. Faced with the very real threat of losing their possessions in India, the French understood that French India was valuable for reasons other than commerce. A particular emphasis was placed on the cultural and political value of French India. Small in area, French India was significant in maintaining order and stability in the other colonies of the French Empire. Simultaneously, the French possessions in India represented starting points for the expansion of French culture in the vast Indian sub-continent.

This study is an attempt to challenge the conventional decline-irrationality literature in the Ottoman historiography. Conventional view presented a way of thinking that is unfavorable to the rational economic behavior as the explanatory factor for the so-called decline of Ottoman Empire. Using an explicitly comparative approach, main aim of the study is to account for the specific trajectory of the Ottoman transformation without recourse to the conventional view. Juxtaposing the Ottoman and Western experience, the traditional explanation runs through the specific trajectory of Ottoman transformation in terms of its mental inferiority with respect to the so-called Western rationale. In contradistinction, this study aims to demonstrate that the Ottoman and Spanish experiences can be analyzed within the same comparative framework without an eye to such factors as &lsquo / irrationality&rsquo / .

This thesis aims to analyze the contributions of the Ottoman Empire to the construction of modern Europe in the early modern period. Conventional historiography generally argues that the Ottoman Empire contributed to the emergence of the modern European identity only through acting as the &amp / #8216 / other&amp / #8217 / of Europe. This thesis, however, aims to show that such an analysis is not enough to understand the Ottoman impact on the European state system. Moreover, it argues that the Ottoman Empire contributed to the construction of this system both politically and economically. By depriving the Habsburg Empire of dominating whole continent, Ottoman Empire helped the proto-modern centralizing states, i.e. England, France and the Netherlands, and Protestantism to survive the suppression of the Habsburgs. On the other hand, by granting capitulations to these European states, it contributed to the economies of these states in a way that they could be able to develop their emerging capitalist economies. In all, this thesis concludes that the Ottoman Empire was not a passive actor and an outsider to the European system, acted only as a counter-reference point in the formation of the European identity / rather, it actively involved in the European politics and economics as an active actor.

Diss.--Geschichtswissenschaftliche Fakultät--Tübingen, 1982.

Diss.--Geschichtswissenschaften--Köln, 1983. / Bibliogr. p. 559-583.