Ottomans as 'Rumes' in Portuguese Sources in the Sixteenth Century
2001; Modern Humanities Research Association; Volume: 17; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/port.2001.0007
ISSN2222-4270
Autores Tópico(s)Hispanic-African Historical Relations
ResumoOttomans as 'Rumes'inPortuguese Sources inthe Sixteenth Century SALÍH ÖZBARAN Muytas vezes perguntava[ . . . ] a algum soldado branco se era Turco, e respondia que não, senão que era Rume; e a outras perguntava seerão Turcos. Garciada Orta (1563)1 Before theadvent ofOttoman ruleintheYemen in1517,there werealready manysoldiers, seamen,and gunners or specialists infirearms bearing the nameofRumiorKümlüinboththeYemenandIndia.Atthattimeinthe East,butoutsidetheOttoman Empire, thisdesignation infactunequivocallydenoted 'Ottoman'.The Rûmîsapparently includednotonlythose Ottomans whoweresentbyBâyezïdII totheMamlüksfrom 1509onward, butalso adventurers from Ottomanlands,particularly from Western Asia MinorandKaraman.2 Itwas insuchterms thatthenotedOttomanist, Halil Inalale,described thefirst appearanceinsouthern landsand seas ofthoseoriginating from landsunder Ottoman rule.SanjaySubrahmanyam, theIndianhistorian of thePortuguese expansion, explainsthemajorroleplayedbythe'Rumis'in thehistory ofwestern India- particularly intheGujaratsultanate - in themid-sixteenth century. Itwasthe'Rumis' who had arrivedinGujaratinsuccessivewaves:somedescendants(orsurvivors) from the timeof Mahmud Bedadh, others(a prominentgroup) who had accompanied SalmanRe'is and MustafaBairam,and stillothersfromthelate1530sandearly1540s. All inall, these'Rumis' formed a partofthegroupofwestAsian migrants whomthe Portuguese werewonttocall estrangeiros, borrowing on thelocal notionofãfãqL3 MustafaRumïwasactiveunder Bãbur,anda RumïKhanunder theSultan of Gujarat.'Even the battleorderadoptedin thesearmies'reminded VernonParry,an experton Ottomanwarfare,'is said to have been arrangedat timesin accordancewiththecustomof Rüm, i.e., of the Ottoman Empire'.4 1Garciada Orta,Colóquios dos Simplese Drogas da ìndia,coloquio segundo,ed. byConde de Ficalho,2 vols (Lisbon:AcademiaReal das Scienciasde Lisboa, 1891-92), 1,32. H. lnalcik,'The Socio-PoliticalEffects of theDiffusionof Fire-arms in theMiddle East', in War, Technologyand Societyin the Middle East, ed. by V. J. Parryand M. Yapp (London: OxfordUniversity Press,1975),p. 204. 3 S. Subrahmanyam, 'The tradingworldof thewesternIndianOcean, 1546-1565: A Political interpretation', inA Carreirada ìndiae as Rotasdos Estreitos, ed. byA. T. Matos and L. Thomas (Anerado Heroísmo:O Seminario,1998),p. 214. 4 V. J.Parry,'Warfare',in The CambridgeHistoryofIslam,ed. byP. Holt, A. Lambtonand B. Lewis (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity Press,1970),p. 836. OTTOMANS AS 'RUMES' IN PORTUGUESE SOURCES 6$ The perceptionof 'Rumes'according to modern Portuguesehistorians JoséPedroMachado, in his etymological dictionary of thePortuguese language, defines 'Rume': Vindo, porém, os Turcosa ocuparas províncias orientais daqueleimpério, passaram paraelesestesnomes de Rumee Rumi, de maneira que umantigo nomede cristãos passoua designar os seusmaisencarniçados inimigos; e assimse explicao uso nos cronistas portuguesas das nossascoisasdo Oriente da palavraRumedesignativo de Turco.5 Machado's description is notat all bad, exceptthathe believesthat 'Rume' or 'Rumi' onlysignifies Turk (Turco).Dictionaries suchas the Vestigios da LingoaArabicaemPortugal ofJoãode Sousa and theNovo DicionárioCompactoda LinguaPortuguesa editedbyAntónio de Morais Silva do not offer any satisfactory explanationnor do theypay any significant attention to the usage of thisterm.Stillworse,the recent Dicionáriode Históriados Descobrimentos Portugueses does not even includetheterms 'Rume'or 'Rumi'though itgivesspaceto 'Turcos'and thus'Rumes'doesnotevenenter intothediscussion.6 TheGlossárioLusoAsiatico bySebastiãoRodolfoDalgado,however, provides thereader with morevarietyof usage, specifying thatit is 'Turkishin general'and attributing toit,geographically, a larger space(AsiaMinorandGreece).7 ModernPortuguese historians, unfortunately, do not seem to have improved on thesedictionaries. Theyhavepaid onlylimited attention to thosewho are considered to be outsidethe mainstream of Portuguese history justas Turkish historians inTurkey havenotmanaged toestablish new university departments and researchcentres(existing ones being inadequate)toinvestigate andteachthecultures ofthe'other'.The listof recentstudiesmade by Luís FilipeThomaz, who seemsto have been particularly interested inother areas,populations, andtheir history reflects, however,the contemporary situationin Portugal:he recognizesthese limitations, butnotwithout thehopethata newgeneration might bebetter placed to make knownto more readersthe richPortuguese sources available, andtobefamiliar withthesources ofthe'others'.8 Thiswouldnotmeanunderestimating certain historians whohavedone research on thePortuguese expansionin theIndianOcean and itslinks 5 J.P. Machado, DicionárioEtimológicoda LinguaPortuguesa,3rdedn,5 vols (Lisbon:Livros Horizonte,1977),v, 126-27. 6 2 vols (Lisbon:Caminho,1994). 2 vols (Coimbra:Academiadas Sciênciasde Lisboa, 1921),11, 264-6*. 8 L. F. Thomaz, 4Le Renouveau des Études Luso-Orientalau Portugal',Arquivosdo Centro CulturalCalouste Gulbenkian,35 (1996), 13-20; L. F. Thomaz, 'Estudos Arabo-Islâmiscose Orientaisem Portugal',in Povos e Culturas:Portugale a Oriente:Passado e Presente,5 [n.d.J, 389-414. See also S. Özbaran, 'PortugueseMaterial forOttoman History',in CIDC Insight: Luso-Turkish Edition(1998),15-20. 66 salìh özbaran withtheLevantine world, andhavetherefore mentioned theterm 'Rumes', thoughwithout satisfactory explanation. VitorinoMagalhãesGodinho, forexample, inhismonumental twovolume history onthediscoveries and worldeconomy ofthefifteenth andsixteenth centuries...
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