About Fatma Aladağ

Fatma Aladağ

Editor for Ottoman Studies

Fatma Aladağ

Editor for Ottoman Studies

My research focuses on four primary areas:

  • 16th century Ottoman Empire and Ottoman cities.
  • Digital Humanities and Digital Urban Studies.
  • Geographic Information System and spatial analysis.

My master thesis (completed in 2020) entitled “Cities and Administrative Divisions of the Ottoman Empire in the Early 16th Century: A Case Study for the Application of Digital History to Ottoman Studies” focuses on the early 16th century Ottoman Empire and Ottoman cities. This thesis contributes to Ottoman studies both thematically and methodologically. Its first thematic purpose is to determine, describe and map the Ottoman administrative and provincial organizations in the first half of the 16th century, organized as vilayet, sanjak and kaza, using legal documents such as kanunname and kadıasker records and sources related to the tax system such as tahrir registers. The methodological contribution of this study is to digitally map the early 16th century Ottoman Empire for the first time through Geographical Information System (GIS) using ArcGIS, to prepare an accessible and updatable online database.

I was also a GIS and research assistant for digital urban project entitled “Mapping the Ottoman Cities: Socio-Spatial Conjunctions and Distinctiveness (1520-1540)” directed by Dr. Yunus Uğur. Moreover, I worked at the Center for Urban Studies at Istanbul Şehir University as an assistant.

Currently, I am PhD student at the Leipzig University, History Department. I work with Prof. Stefan Rohdewald on the digital urban history of early 16th century Istanbul and Ottoman manuscripts. My doctoral research focuses on urban knowledge about and urban perceptions of Istanbul in the 16th century in the case of written and visual sources about Istanbul.

The multicultural nature of the Ottoman Empire and the record-keeping sensitivity of the Ottoman bureaucracy created a richness of Ottoman resources that makes Ottoman archives a potential hub for digital humanities. At this point, I am very glad to be part of Digital Orientalist to enhance the awareness of Ottoman historians and share my experiences on the importance of digital methodology.

For academic publications, projects and new developments about digital humanities, urban history, and Ottoman studies, you can follow me on Twitter via @fatmaaladag!