Fortresses

Abstract

This chapter examines the role of river transportation in Ottoman state-building in Iraq. From the sixteenth century, the Ottoman state organized a steady supply of grains and arms to be shipped from Aleppo, Diyarbakır, and Mosul to the downstream fortresses of Baghdad and Basra. The Ottoman state, as a result, could deploy in Iraq sizable garrisons capable of stabilizing its authority in a volatile frontier region. In addition, Istanbul improved the communication infrastructure of the drainage basin by investing in seaports, docks, rafts, and bridges, which smoothed the movement of men and provisions between the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf. The janissary and artillery corps deployed from the capital profited greatly from the imperial patronage of provincial religious foundations and their cadre, which buttressed the legitimacy of Ottoman hard power in the region.