Efthymios Machairas is a historian of the Ottoman Empire with a focus on the insular and maritime worlds of the Eastern Mediterranean. He is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute of Historical Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation, where he contributes to the project A Digital Historical Atlas of Greek Micronesia, and at the Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, as part of the research initiative Archaeology in the Ottoman Aegean: Consuls – Culture – Commerce. He received his PhD from the University of Crete with a dissertation on the economic and social history of Patmos and its surrounding insular environment. Dr. Machairas’ broader research interests include the history of Greek communities under Ottoman rule, the history of rebellion in the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman archaeology, monastic history and economy, Mediterranean history, and maritime history.

“I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to Tarık Tüten, the deputy mütevelli of the Hafiz Ahmed Ağa foundation and the person whose brainchild is the book you are currently holding. Additionally I would like to thank my professor and now colleague and friend Elias Kolovos for his support and trust. Moreover, I am indebted to my academic comrade Faidon Moudopoulos for introducing me to Antonis Manos who made the map found in this chapter. Finally I would like to thank the Badisches Landesmuseum of Karlsruhe and Nicholas Salmon who are funding my current research on the island of Rhodes as part of the program, ‘Archaeology in the Ottoman Aegean: Consuls – Culture – Commerce’, which ultimately made this paper possible.”

Efthymios Machairas