"International trade was of great importance for the Ottomans in the construction of their early empire. Kate Fleet's book examines the trade links which existed between European merchants and their Muslim counterparts from the beginnings of the Ottoman empire in 1300 to the fall of...

It has often been assumed that the subjects of the Ottoman sultans were unable to travel beyond their localities - since peasants needed the permission of their local administrators before they could leave their villages. According to this view, only soldiers and members of the governing elite...