The Later Ottoman Empire, 1603-1839 The Cambridge History of Turkey - Vol. 3 Edited by Suraiya N. Faroqhi Volume 3 of :The Cambridge History of Turkey traces the history of the later Ottoman Empire from the death of Mehmed III in 1603 to the proclamation of the Tanzimat, the administrative reconstruction of the Ottoman state, in 1839. This was a period of alternating stability and instability when trade between the empire and Europe flourished and, wartime apart, merchants and pilgrims could travel in relative security. However, despite the emphasis on the sultan's role as defender of the faithful and of social order, tensions did exist between the ruling elite in Istanbul and their subjects in the provinces, not least because of the vastness of the empire and the unpropitious natural environment with which those subjects struggled on a daily basis. This theme is one of the central motifs of the volume, where contributors look at the problems provincial administrators faced when collecting taxes and coming to terms with local soldiers and the politically active households of notables. Other sections focus on religious and political groups, non-Muslim minorities, women, trade, handicrafts, life in the Ottoman countryside and, importantly, music, art, and architecture. The history sets out to demonstrate the political, cultural, and artistic accomplishments of the Ottomans in the post-classical period, which runs contrary to traditional and still widespread notions that this was a period of stagnation and decline. Suraiya N. Faroqhi is Professor at the Ludwig Maximilians Universitat in Munich. Her most recent publications include Subjects of the Sultans, Culture and Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire (2000), and The Ottoman Empire and the World Around it (2004).