Oriental gifts : diplomatic practices of knowledge at the Ottoman court (1779-1786)

Abstract

This article focusses on the material diplomatic practices of Juan and Joseph Eliodoro Bouligny as Spanish envoys in Istanbul between 1779 and 1786. The lack of institutionalised relationships between the Ottoman and Spanish Empire implied the need for new agents and practices which would mediate their 'distance'. Diplomatic practices as the gift-giving allowed agents as the Boulignys to concrete the Spanish ignorance about the Ottoman political culture and system. Consequently, my main claim here is that Bouligny's diplomatic practices of gift-giving served as a way to generate political knowledge, commensurating asymmetrical courts.