Costantinl Vera author Columbia University. Italian Academy originator text Working papers New York Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, Columbia University 2011 The centuries-long history of the Ottoman Empire has been and somehow still is considered by non-Ottoman historians from a teleological approach. So challenging is the idea that the Middle East has been ruled by an independent, hegemonic State, that the European – or, better to say, Eurocentric – culture and mentality need to keep celebrating its actual historical decay and ultimate end. The institutional experience of the Ottoman Empire still happens to be either abused or sentenced to a damnation memoriae. This is particularly true in those countries that are directly caught up in the Ottoman memory. These nations, such as Turkey, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria and other Balkan countries, also happen to host the most extensive Ottoman archives in the world. As far as Italian historiography is concerned, Ottoman documents are seldom directly examined, even when dealing with the ever-fashionable topics of Mediterranean history. Economic history European history http://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:14917 English NNC NNC 2012-10-12 16:16:07 -0400 2012-10-16 11:06:28 -0400 8921 eng