author

Mustafa Naima

1655–1716

An Ottoman historian and bureaucrat, he is best known for the chronicle later called Tarih-i Naima, a major source on the empire’s past. Writing from inside the state, he helped shape how later generations understood Ottoman history.

1 Audiobook

Annals of the Turkish Empire, from 1591 to 1659

Annals of the Turkish Empire, from 1591 to 1659

by Mustafa Naima

About the author

Born in Aleppo in 1655, Mustafa Naima later went to Constantinople, where he entered palace service and trained as a secretary. He built a career in Ottoman administration before becoming known for his historical writing.

Naima is remembered above all for his Tarih or Tarih-i Naima, a chronicle covering the years 1591–1659. He is often described as the first official historian of the Ottoman Empire, though some sources note that the formal office may only have been fully established under his successor.

He died in 1716 in Patras, in the Morea. Today, his work remains important not only for the events it records, but also for the way it reflects the concerns and political thinking of the late Ottoman court.