Episode description

Is diversity a problem, or a blessing?

For centuries, the Ottoman Empire was arguably the most diverse polity in the history of the world. But as the Ottoman crescent began to wane, the pressures of modernity forced the High Porte to reevaluate the benefits of its heterogeneity .

In the Season 2 opener, we shift our focus away from the particulars of life in Palestine to explore the nature of intercommunal relations in the Ottoman realm of the 19th century.