ABSTRACT
The chapter analyzes the entrepôte of Izmir in the second half of the 17th century as both an Ottoman and ‘infidel’ space of interreligious interaction and/or integration. As part of the Ottoman state, in Izmir, foreigner groups were ‘normally’ part of the urban fabric. However, the importance and the number of these city users far exceeded those of other Ottoman cities, giving rise to Izmir’s title of gavur (‘infidel’). The chapter provides a historiographical insight into the Ottoman diversity’ s management system, an overview on the specificity of Izmir as fertile ground of hybridizing practices, for finally highlighting the Europeans key role on the city’s development. The history of Izmir, its crucial commercial importance and its openness to diversity are thus described through the voice of three travellers: Antoine Galland, Joseph Pitton de Tournefort and Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri. Through the interweaving of their narrative voices, the city is depicted as being simultaneously plural and ‘European.’ The chance for diversities provided by the gavur Izmir resulted in an attraction also for Catholic missionaries – the protagonists of the next two chapters – who are introduced here through the words of three travellers.
