Аннотация:Ottoman expansion and policies in the central Sahara region in the second half of the 19th century have remained unexplored to date due to the uneven distribution of archival materials between the two countries (Libya and Turkey). New records emerging from an intensive analysis of the archives of both countries, as well as local oral narratives collected during a trip to the region in 2023, show how the Ottomans attempted to balance Tanzimat reforms with the local conditions of the Sahara region after 1850, and what political and economic innovations they brought to the region. Ottoman policies in the Sahara had a pluralistic and sometimes paradoxical character, with the involvement of many local and central actors, resulting in diplomatic and economic relations that were quite extensive and sometimes extended even beyond the Ottomans. Thus, the Ottoman policies in the Sahara also paved the way for other administrations and states in Central Sudan to consider these policies in the context of their own interests and opened up a new political perspective in the region at a time when the colonialist occupations of European states had begun, but ultimately failed to achieve their intended success. The Ottoman policies in the Sahara also open a new perspective for historians to understand the relations with other African Muslim rulers and rulers in the farthest reaches of the empire.
