The sublime post : how the Ottoman imperial post became a public service / Choon Hwee Koh.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Choon, Hwee Koh, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Postal service--Turkey--History.

Postal service.

Turkey--History--Ottoman Empire, 1288-1918.

Turkey.

Physical Description:

xi, 257 pages : illustrations ; maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New Haven ; London : Yale University Press, [2024]

Summary:

"Before the advent of steamships or the telegraph, the premier technology for long-distance communication was the horse-run relay system. Every empire had one--including the Ottoman Empire. In The Sublime Post, Choon Hwee Koh examines how the vast Ottoman postal system worked across three centuries by tracking the roles of eight small-scale actors--the Courier, the Tatar, Imperial Decrees, the Bookkeeper, the Postmaster, the Villager, Money, and the Horse. There are stories of price-gouging postmasters; of murdered couriers and their bereaved widows; of moonlighting officials transporting merchandise; of neighboring villages engaged in long-running feuds; of bookkeepers calculating the annual costs of horseshoes, halters, and hay; of Tatar couriers and British travelers sharing drunken nights at post stations; of swimming with horses across rivers; and of hiding from marauding bandits in the desert. By weaving together chronicles, sharia court records, fiscal registers, collective petitions, appointment contracts, and imperial decrees from the Ottoman archive, this study of a large scale communications infrastructure reveals the interdependence of an empire and its diverse imperial subjects. Koh traces this evolving interdependence between 1500 and 1840 to tell the history of the Ottoman Empire and its changing social order. --Book cover.

Contents:

Introduction

The Ottoman postal system

The courier

The Tatar

The Decrees

The bookkeeper

The postmaster

The villager

Breakdown

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 203-235) and index.

ISBN:

9780300270532

0300270534

OCLC:

1428036653