Fires were a central part of life in Ottoman Istanbul which became only more frequent and devastating over time. Ignited by accident or arson, they were propelled forward by the city’s notoriously fickle winds, leapt between densely packed wooden houses, and raced down narrow and sloping streets for days on end. In doing so, they left huge swaths of the city in ruins and thousands of people homeless, injured, or dead. Despite being hugely important parts of everyday life in the Ottoman capital, and the rich possibilities they offer for understanding topographic, demographic, economic, and political transformations there, much remains to be studied and documented about them. Mapping a handful of fires in Istanbul from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, and drawing on contemporary chronicles, treatises, poems, and archival documents, I investigate how fires moved throughout the city over time, why they grew consistently worse until the very end of the empire, and the myriad ways in which they transformed the social fabric.
Researcher: Jordan Cannon
Keywords: Istanbul, fires, early modern, Constantinople