Ottoman attitudes toward Europe shifted from contempt to detailed curiosity by 1665.

Evidence

Evliya still represents an Islamic empire conscious of its unchallengeable superiority in religion and consequently also in wealth and power. In his comments he appears as amused, sometimes even playful, occasionally disdainful. But at the same time he offers something clearly different from the earlier tradition of unconcern and contempt. His description is very detailed and reveals to his Ottoman reader a society with many positive features—a well-disciplined army, a fair and efficient system of administration of justice, prosperous towns and countryside, and a thriving capital city. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1081

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Nadia Abu El-Haj’s work and Said’s Orientalism — the reverse gaze of the Ottomans studying Europe.