Between commerce and sanctity: Ottoman policies and international boundaries in the early modern Red Sea

This article examines the transformation of the Ottoman empire’s maritime boundary policies in the Red Sea during the early modern period. It focuses on the dual character of the Red Sea, as both a religious frontier safeguarding the Holy Cities and a strategic maritime corridor within global trade networks. Drawing on Ottoman and British archival sources, the study analyses the period from 1517 to 1798 in three distinct phases: a closed sea era shaped by the Portuguese threat (1517–1608); a phase of negotiation with friendly European actors (1608–36); and a period of controlled openness (1636–1798), in which limited access was granted to merchants recognised as müsteʾmin (protected foreigners). The article argues that Ottoman maritime sovereignty in the region was not exercised through absolute control, but through a flexible and negotiable mode of boundary management. This perspective offers a contribution to early modern debates on imperial border-making and sovereignty by revealing how empires balanced ideological commitments with economic pragmatism.