Federico Cortigiani

Federico Cortigiani is a PhD candidate in Ottoman and Middle Eastern History at Stanford University. He specializes in the history of the Ottoman Empire in the early modern period (circa 1300 to 1800) with a primary focus on the history of science and environmental history. In his ongoing dissertation project, Federico investigates early modern Ottoman understandings of how specific environments shaped human bodies and minds, arguing that ideas about a place’s environmental influences deeply informed how its inhabitants were viewed and viewed themselves. He also maintains an interest in the history of the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia, and in previous projects he has analysed the expansionistic visions that animated sixteenth-century Ottoman descriptions of the human and natural geographies of Maritime Southeast Asia.

Federico holds an MPhil in Islamic Studies and History from the University of Oxford and a BA in Languages, Cultures, and Societies of Asia and Mediterranean Africa from the University of Venice. Before coming to Stanford, he taught a course in Ottoman Turkish language and palaeography at the European University Institute in Florence.