From ‘nationes’ to Nations? Communities of Strangers in the Mediterranean Area from the 16th to the Early 20th Century

International Workshop at the Historical Institute of the University of Bern The focus of the workshop will be on the relations between European actors and those from both the Ottoman Empire and the Maghreb. We thus consider the Mediterranean Sea to be less a boundary between distinct world-areas or imperial spheres of influence – European on the one hand and Ottoman on the other – than a zone of contact and interaction. Contrary to recent publications our workshop aims to open up wider chronological perspectives from the 16th century onwards by focusing on the genesis and transformations of the concept of natio/nationes and the social practices related to it. This will also create the opportunity to reflect on the consequences of the Great Divergence and the concomitant decline of the Ottoman Empire on the one hand and the rise of Western European imperial power on the other.