Winter in the Caucasus: Ebūbekir b. ʿAbdullāh’s Description of Derbent and Its Surroundings in 1582, a Study and Translation

Abstract The Ottoman-Safavid war of 1578–1590 marked the first time the Caucasus emerged as a primary battleground in the struggle between the Ottomans, Iran, and Russia. The war’s first campaign, led by Lala Muṣṭafā Paşa in Shirvan, also saw the rise of Özdemiroġlu ʿOs̱mān Paşa, commander of the Ottoman troops that wintered in Daghestan in 1578–1579. This campaign has been extensively recounted in contemporary chronicles, particularly in ġazavātnāme such as Muṣṭafā ʿĀlī’s Nuṣretnāme (c. 1584) and Āṣafī Dāl Meḥmed Çelebi’s Şecāʿatnāme (c. 1586–1587), both authored by high-ranking officials who took part in the campaign. However, a different perspective emerges when one considers the experiences of rank-and-file soldiers, voiceless yet central actors in the events chronicled in these narratives. This study focuses on the so-called Tārīḫ-i ʿOs̱mān Paşa , a war memoir composed in Turkish between 1580–1584 by Ebūbekir b. ʿAbdullāh, a cavalryman in the Ottoman army. In addition to adopting a more prosaic tone than his prestigious contemporaries, Ebūbekir also gives prominence to his personal experiences and observations, particularly when recounting his one-year stay in the region of Derbent. In this passage, he describes the peoples of Daghestan and briefly discusses their history, sociopolitical organization, beliefs, and customs. In this article, I present a translation and analysis of this passage of the book. In introducing this text to an English-speaking audience, this work contributes to our historical understanding of Daghestan and the Caucasus and provides valuable material for studying Ottoman mentalities, moving beyond the authorized narratives of state-employed chroniclers.