Oliver Jens Schmitt. Levantiner. Lebenswelten und Identitäten einer ethnokonfessionellen Gruppe im osmanischen Reich im "langen 19.Jahrhundert"

Official URL: http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/zeitschriften/id=28&count=429&recno=8&ausgabe=3465

This article reviews a historical study authored by O.J.Schmitt. The study is on the hitherto neglected history of the Levantines, a demographic group present in major Ottoman porte towns, such as Istanbul, Izmir etc. It discusses the origins, the demographic structure, the culture as well as their economic functions within the Ottoman Empire. According to the author the Levantines, who were carrying passports of major European countries and thus were officially identified to be "Europeans", in fact should be reconsidered as a separate semi-Oriental ethnic group.