The Mediterranean played a central role in the political, military, and political life of the Ottoman Empire. It was a context for intensive military and political confrontation with European powers, a space of trade, scientific, and cultural exchanges across political and religious boundaries, and a natural environment constraining imperial policies and economic development. This graduate class analyzes the long-lasting and multifaceted engagement of the Ottoman Empire with the Mediterranean Sea between the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 and the onset of World War 1. It deals with wars and piracy, diplomacy, long-distance trade, the environment, slavery, religion, and interreligious cultural and scientific exchanges.