In 1517, the Ottoman Sultan Selim "the Grim" conquered Egypt and brought his empire for the first time in history into direct contact with the trading world of the Indian Ocean. During the decades that followed, the Ottomans became progressively more engaged in the affairs of this vast andpreviously unfamiliar region, eventually to the point of launching a systematic ideological, military and commercial challenge to the Portuguese Empire, their main rival for control of the lucrative trade routes of maritime Asia.The Ottoman Age of Exploration is the first comprehensive historical account of this century-long struggle for global dominance, a struggle that raged from the shores of the Mediterranean to the Straits of Malacca, and from the interior of Africa to the steppes of Central Asia. Based on extensiveresearch in the archives of Turkey and Portugal, as well as materials written on three continents and in a half dozen languages, it presents an unprecedented picture of the global reach of the Ottoman state during the sixteenth century. It does so through a dramatic recounting of the lives ofsultans and viziers, spies, corsairs, soldiers-of-fortune, and women from the imperial harem. Challenging traditional narratives of Western dominance, it argues that the Ottomans were not only active participants in the Age of Exploration, but ultimately bested the Portuguese in the game of globalpolitics by using sea power, dynastic prestige, and commercial savoir faire to create their own imperial dominion throughout the Indian Ocean.

1517年，奥斯曼苏丹塞利姆-"严峻 "征服了埃及，使他的帝国在历史上第一次直接接触到印度洋的贸易世界。在随后的几十年里，奥斯曼人逐渐更多地参与到这个以前不熟悉的广大地区的事务中，最终对葡萄牙帝国发起了系统的意识形态、军事和商业挑战，葡萄牙帝国是他们控制亚洲海上有利可图的贸易路线的主要对手。《奥斯曼帝国的探索时代》是对这场长达一个世纪的全球主导地位的斗争的第一次全面历史记录，这场斗争从地中海沿岸到马六甲海峡，从非洲内陆到中亚大草原。基于对土耳其和葡萄牙档案的广泛研究，以及在三大洲用半打语言撰写的材料，该书对奥斯曼国家在16世纪的全球影响力进行了空前的描述。它通过对苏丹和大臣、间谍、海盗、幸运战士和帝国后宫妇女的生活进行戏剧性的叙述来实现这一目标。该书挑战了西方统治的传统叙事，认为奥斯曼人不仅是探索时代的积极参与者，而且最终在全球政治游戏中战胜了葡萄牙人，利用海上力量、王朝威望和商业智慧在整个印度洋建立了自己的帝国统治。