The present volume contains most of the papers presented at the 18th symposium of the Comite International pour les etudes preottomanes et ottomanes (CIEPO) which has taken place in Zagreb in August 2008 (83 authors from 15 countries). CIEPO is the non-profit association of more than a hundred of world's leading scholars in Ottoman studies, founded in 1973, whose meetings are open for all other researchers as well. The contributions cover a very large field (Turkey, Central and Southeastern Europe, the Middle East, from ca. 1300 to 1922), including a vast variety of topics.