This atlas offers a survey of the history of Southeast Europe from 1521 until 1699, from the first major land campaign undertaken by Sultan Süleyman I until the Treaty of Karlowitz at the end of the seventeenth century. It covers modern-day Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Romania (Walachia and Transylvania), Dalmatia, Greece and Cyprus.
Hans H.A. Hötte, (PhD, 1970) was a professional ophthalmologist who spent decades of his life working on this atlas in his spare time. In addition to using the available literature in various languages, he also travelled frequently to the Balkans to obtain information on the ground. He died in 2007.
Colin Heywood, (PhD, London, 1970) was a lecturer in Ottoman history at SOAS, and is currently affiliated with the Maritime Historical Studies Centre of the University of Hull. He has published extensively on the history and historiography of the Ottoman Empire and (since 2000) on maritime and Mediterranean history in the early modern period.
'Students and scholars working on the history of early-modern southeastern Europe now have an indispensable historical atlas—although not in the format the author had originally intended. Its printing (fortunately) circumvented the technical difficulties preventing its original conception and execution as a digital resource. The maps cover the time between 1521 (the beginning of the land campaign by Süleyman I to capture Belgrade) and 1699 (the Treaty of Carlowitz). The atlas is solely concerned with geopolitical, not topographical or cultural, matters. Editor Heywood (Univ. of Hull), a recognized historian of both Mediterranean and early modern Ottoman imperial history, succinctly introduces the maps. What is sorely missed, however, is a short bibliography for readers less conversant with the subject. The creator of the atlas, the late Hans Hötte, merged his professional expertise (ophthalmology) with his passion for the history of this region to create these clear, informative, stunningly beautiful maps. The atlas is organized by time periods into 12 chapters. Each section contains many pages of survey and detailed maps to help readers visualize the events described in the introductory text. This is a large book with a correspondingly hefty price, but it is well worth the investment.
Summing Up: Recommended. All scholarly audiences and professional cartographers'.
R. T. Ingoglia, Caldwell University in CHOICE August 2015 vol. 52 no. 12
doi: 10.5860/CHOICE.191452
Copyright 2015 American Library Association
Historians of the Balkans; historians of Greece; historians of Turkey; historians of the Ottoman Empire; collectors of atlases