In Memoriam: With Halil Hoca at the Quads of the University of Chicago

Professor İnalcık transformed the field of Ottoman studies from an obscure and exotic sub-field into one of the leading historical disciplines that covers the history of the greater Middle East and North Africa as well as the Balkans from the late medieval to the modern period. He set the tone of debate and critical inquiry from the early modern to the modern period. Very few leading historians of these fields have failed to read and engage the scholarship of Professor İnalcık. His own scholarship covers a broad expanse of territory, from the history of Crimea, Albania, and Anatolia in the fifteenth century to Bulgaria in the nineteenth century. His works on the Ottoman land tenure system, taxation, trade, and provincial administration remain crucial for any serious scholar who is trying to tackle these issues in a specific space and time. Young scholars from the Balkans, the Middle East and Turkey seldom take issue with the primary findings of Professor İnalcık and instead try to build on his works. He has set the agenda for a critical analysis and understanding of a crucial time period in world history. Professor İnalcık has engaged leading historians like Fernand Braudel and In Memoriam: With Halil Hoca at the Quads of the University of Chicago