SEABORD · Ottoman Sea Borders, Fortresses and Geo-political Considerations in the Eastern Mediterranean, 1699-1832
Horizon Europe — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2023-09-01 → 2025-08-31
- EU contribution
- €164,328
- Participants
- 2
- Scheme
- HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Ottoman Sea Borders, Fortresses and Geo-political Considerations in the Eastern Mediterranean, 1699-1832
The Eastern Mediterranean was a contested sea in the 18th and early 19th centuries. After 1715 the Ottoman Empire reasserted control over key coasts and islands once held by Venice. The region’s fortresses—especially in the Peloponnese, Crete and Cyprus—were not only walls on a skyline; they were working towns, garrisons and supply hubs that made the sea frontier visible and defensible. Yet this Ottoman century (1715–1821) is the least understood phase in the life of these sites. Many studies stop with the Venetian period or jump straight to the Greek Revolution, leaving open questions: How were the fortresses maintained? How were they supplied with materials, weapons and people? What kinds of trade and everyday life unfolded inside and around them? SEABORD set out to close this gap. The project’s goals were to: -reconstruct how fortress-towns were governed, supplied and manned under Ottoman rule; -show how these places functioned as local economic and social centres, not only military posts; -bring scattered archives, historic maps and on-site observations together in a coherent, shareable record; -explain how the Ottomans kept a largely stable sea frontier despite the visible aging of some major forts. The pathway to impact is twofold: new evidence (datasets, maps, images) that others can reuse, and a fresh interpretive lens—“governance-by-repair”—that links materials, labour, logistics and authority.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
SEABORD will explore the frontier fortresses of Eastern Mediterranean in a comparative perspective in order to assign their role in defence, socio-economic development and geo-political considerations during the Ottoman rule. This research will focus on fortress-towns of Peloponnese, Cyprus and Crete, considering their similar historical trajectory in establishing Ottoman sea borders in the Eastern Mediterranean. This project will be based on a research conducted and collected qualitative data in various archives (in Istanbul, Athens, London, Vienna and Nantes), and on other primary sources, and on-site fieldwork facilitated by advanced digital tools and methods. Combining use of unpublished archival material with development of new digital reproductions (3D images, GIS based maps), this research offers an innovative approach to share and engage with cultural heritage in Europe. Main outcomes of this project will be a monograph, conference papers (will be published in edited collective volumes or as journal articles), and a digital museum, which will contribute to disseminate the project results in a wider audience. During two years period of the MSCA European Fellowship (EP), the researcher will base her research and training activities at Science and Technology in Archaeology and Culture Research Center (STARC), at the Cyprus Institute (Cyl). As part of her fellowship, she intends to complete a 3-month secondment at the Department of History and Archaeology, at the University of Crete, to enhance her training and expand her research. Overall, this project aims address a significant societal challenge, primarily resulting from derision of systematic research on such monuments during the Ottoman rule in Greece, and elsewhere in Europe in general. Thus, dissemination, communication and outreach activities are designed fulfilling this aim promoting research on fortresses and castles, and other examples of built military heritage of the Ottoman past in Europe.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
Links
- View on CORDIS
- DOI: 10.3030/101110752
- https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/documents/downloadPublic?documentIds=080166e50926e27f&appId=PPGMS
- https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/documents/downloadPublic?documentIds=080166e52035d505&appId=PPGMS
Data: CORDIS, © European Union