Once Upon a Time Ada Kaleh: Introduction to the Danube Society, 17th-20th century

This paper collects, reevaluates, and analyses data from linguistically different historiographical and archival materials about the economic, social, political, and cultural history of the Ada Kaleh Island from the late 17th century to the present. It explores Ada Kaleh’s history through the light of the Habsburg‑Ottoman relations as well as of anthropological studies on the former islanders conducted in recent decades. This essay argues that orientalism, nationalism, and military issues still significantly distorted Ada Kaleh’s history. In this essay, I demonstrate Ada Kaleh was significant marketplace and a rhizome of a trans‑imperial and trans‑Danubian East‑ and Central‑European society. I also envision Ada Kaleh as the symbol of the denial of the Ottoman contribution to European history. This paper eventually addresses methodological and historiographical issues about writing the history of Muslims in early modern and modern Europe.