Muslims in Europe, Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries

Abstract

The Muslim presence in Central and Western Europe during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries was greater than had been thought, at least up to a few years ago. Eastern Europe, of course, was an entirely different case, especially in the Balkans, ruled by the Ottoman Empire – though it began to lose territory in the 1700s – and in large regions of southeastern Europe that were gradually absorbed into the Russian Empire. In certain areas of these territories Muslims either ruled or formed a majority, while in others they were a significant minority. Nor did they disappear from Balkan lands altogether, for there are still nuclei of Muslim populations outside the small area of European Turkey, as well as in much of southern Russia. We shall not be concerned with those cases here, however, since they are substantially different from those of Western Europe.1 As to Central and Western Europe, it has been and to some extent continues to be thought that the Muslim presence in the Early Modern period was scarce and brief, and therefore insignificant.2 But recent research has proved that it was much more significant than has been acknowledged until now. The step from seeing Muslims as a groupe invisible to regarding them as étrangers familiers represents a significant advance in our understanding of the matter. We now have monographs on a considerable swath of European territory that show a good number of Muslims either visiting or living there for varying periods of time and many different reasons.3 We also have overall views for a few countries, particularly France,4 Great