The Environmental Origins of Ottoman Iraq | Faisal Husain

E504 | The Ottoman conquests of the 16th century represented a watershed moment in many senses. Our guest Faisal Husain explains the most literal of these senses: the unification of the Tigris and Euphrates basins under a single political authority and its ramifications for the history of Iraq. In our conversation, we explore how Ottoman rule in Iraq created new ecological possibilities and realities, setting the stage for momentous interventions in the rivers detailed in Husain's recent book "Rivers of the Sultan: The Tigris and Euphrates in the Ottoman Empire." We also reflect on what Iraq reveals about Ottoman history writ large and the empire's dualist historical identity as an agrarian empire on one hand and flexible one on the other, in which accommodating local ecological difference was critical to governance. More at https://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2021/06/the-environmental-origins-of-ottoman.html Faisal Husain is Assistant Professor of History at the Pennsylvania State University. He is the author of Rivers of the Sultan and a member of the editorial boards of Marmara Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi and Global Environment. Chris Gratien is Assistant Professor of History at University of Virginia, where he teaches classes on global environmental history and the Middle East. His first monograph entitled The Unsettled Plain: An Environmental History of the Late Ottoman Frontier is forthcoming with Stanford University Press. CREDITS Episode No. 504 Release Date: 27 June 2021 Recording Location: Charlottesville, VA / State College, PA Sound production and compisition by Sam Dolbee Music: Chad Crouch - Pacing Bibliography and images courtesy of Faisal Husain available at https://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2021/06/the-environmental-origins-of-ottoman.html