Biography

Professor of Early Modern History of the Mediterranean

I am a historian of the early modern Ottoman empire and its connections with the early modern world. My current research explores intersections between the intellectual life of the Ottoman Empire and Renaissance Italy, with a particular interest in antiquarianism, cartography, cosmography, and other forms of early modern science. I also have a deep interest in the history of travel literature and ethnographic writing, early modern diplomacy, and the history of maritime technology, as well as the comparative study of early modern empires and early modern slavery. In addition to my teaching and research, I am currently serving as an executive board member of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association, and on the editorial boards of several scientific journals, including Renaissance Quarterly, Medieval Encounters, and Arabic Humanities. Since 2011, I have also served as executive editor of the Journal of Early Modern History.

Research projects, clusters and working groups

Ongoing

• Ottoman sefaretnames: a new source base for the early history of global diplomacy
• Working Group on Methods in Early Modern History
• Diplomatic/International History Working Group

Completed

• Spatial references in Middle Eastern historical documents (1500‐present): a primary source workshop
• Decentering Eurocentrism

Supervisees

• Ahmet Karapunar
• Antonello Mori
• Arnau Cecchini
• Ela Bozok
• Enise Kapusuz
• Fabian Riesinger
• Gabriel Farrugia
• Halit Serkan Simen
• Klaudia Ewelina Kuchno
• Maxime Morel
• Müberra Kapusuz
• Natalia Woszczyk
• Nikolaos Paraschis
• Rukmini Chakraborty
• Siga Maguiraga
• Takuya Shimada
• Thomas Dumont
• Tunahan Durmaz
• Vuk Uskoković
• Yunus Doğan
• Zainab Hajhasan

Currently second reader for:

• Cosimo Pantaleoni
• Érika Rincones Minda
• Fartun Mohamed
• Jakub Ochocinski
• Tomás Motta Tassinari

Fields of expertise

Recent research output

• CASALE, Giancarlo (2023), Cultures of taḥqīq between the mongols, the mughals, and the Mediterranean, Article
• CASALE, Giancarlo (2023), On taḥqīq, space travel, and the discovery of jetlag : post-mongol trajectories of modern spatial thinking, Article
• CASALE, Giancarlo (2024), Leggere Ruscelli a Istanbul : l'incontro di un müderris Ottomano con un'opera di cartografia rinascimentale, Contribution to book
• SCHAYEGH, Cyrus; CASALE, Giancarlo (2022), Mobility, spatial thinking, and MENA’s global interconnectivity : a primary source roundtable, Article
• CASALE, Giancarlo; DEGILA, Delidji Eric; SABARATNAM Meera (2022), Can the EU be a non-Eurocentric power in the world?, Video
• CASALE, Giancarlo (2022), Turkey and the future of Europe : a history, Article