The Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate in the North Caucasus: A Case Study of Ottoman-Crimean Relations in the Mid-Sixteenth Century

Abstract

Focusing on Ottoman and Crimean policies and their involvement in the North Caucasus in the second half of the sixteenth century as a case study, this paper sheds light on the nature of the political arrangement between the Ottoman empire and the Crimean khanate in this period. Agreeing with scholars who argue that the Crimean khanate’s relationship with the Ottoman empire cannot be classified as vassalage, the present article treats the North Caucasus as a newly emerging borderland and a ‘micro north’ to better understand the framework in which the Crimean khanate functioned as a unit within the Ottoman system.