Reddit reviews The Ottoman Age of Exploration

First of all, the first thing to ask should be: "Why should they have tried?" European powers explored and expanded their empire did it to gain something Ottomans already had: Some control over spice trade that was flowing over Egypt. Portugese discovered America while trying to create trade routes to India and China. Their biggest motivation was to get the control of Egypt and Holy Lands, which Ottomans already did.

Second, historians always downplayed the Ottoman efforts of "exploration" in the Indian Ocean, since there was little attention and knowledge on the issue. But recently historians realized that Ottomans did not sit on their butt during the age of exploration. For example, they involved in a huge struggle against Portugese in Indian Ocean, in a great region included Madagascar, Swahili, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, India and even Indonesia (Aceh). They have disrupted Portugese trade and hegemony in the region. They even tried to create a global alliance of Islamic world, and they have used the authority of caliphate very wisely. You see elements of Ottoman regime everywhere in the region during 16th century. You see Ottoman ships fighting against Portugese even around Indonesia.

But most crucial part was(repeating what I already set): Ottoman Empire already hold positions that Portugese and other European powers wanted to hold. Ottoman efforts were mostly directed towards protecting these positions. Discovery and colonizing of Americas were a side product of this struggle and was an accident (which turned out to be a game changer accident)) There is a reason why Columbus was disappointed when he realized he in fact found a new continent, not went to Asia, and he insisted for a long time he reached Asia.

One problem for Ottomans during this time was they had many frontiers to focus. They had one epic struggle against European powers in Mediterranean Sea(Venice & league of christian nations). They had to struggle against Austrian Empire. They had to struggle against Persian Empire on the east. Indian Ocean was the least important frontier for them during 16th and 17th century, other frontiers were more about the existence of the empire whereas Indian Ocean was about profits. All the enemies had to focus on one of these frontiers most of the time, which made everything extremely difficult for the Empire. Depending on the Sultan and viziers of the time, struggle in Indian Oceans gained more attention or was not seen as important. This fact caused lack of consistency of Ottoman actions against Portugese in a vast geography.

And here is a wonderful book to read, written by a smart academician:

http://www.amazon.com/Ottoman-Age-Exploration-Giancarlo-Casale/dp/0199874042/ref=la_B003BWYZZU_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347656608&sr=1-1

There is a version of book on scribd (http://www.scribd.com/doc/79042382/The-Ottoman-Age-of-Exploration-Giancarlo-Casale). I can't recommend that book enough, please buy it if you can. It is interesting for everyone whether a historian or someone with little knowledge; and written in a clever way.

They were referred to as Janissaries, but they were essentially just state sponsored pirates. The Barbary Coast was for a time the western periphery of the Ottoman Empire, but the relationships between the beys/deys of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli (not so much Morocco) was more of a formality than anything. The Barbary States paid their taxes and weakened the economies of other European nations while in return they were provided with all the benefits associated with being under the protection of the Ottoman Empire. Casale talks about all of this in his book The Ottoman Age of Exploration.