The evolution of a global market for rice is associated with the rise of capitalism. However, the expansion of rice farming in the Ottoman state during the Early Modern Period has not been accounted for in the formation of this global market, nor have its environmental effects in the Ottoman Eastern Mediterranean been explored. This article traces the history of rice production in the Ottoman Balkans in the 15th through 17th centuries. Focusing on the case of rice agriculture in the city of Filibe (Plovdiv, present-day Bulgaria), it traces the causes and implications, both environmental and economic, of the new waterscapes that arose in this region with the spread of rice agriculture. It argues that the appearance of these new waterscapes was connected to a process of agricultural change throughout the region, new forms of control over land and in some instances the introduction of wage labour. Of particular interest is a government order of 1583 that repeats a complaint from Filibe’s elite residents about the city’s bad air and the prevalence there of fevers, which the residents explicitly blamed on the local rice fields. The article examines how responses to rice agriculture were part of an emerging awareness in the Early Modern period of the relationship between economic activity and environmental change. It also frames local environmental change within a global economic transformation.

中文翻译：

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稻米之城：早期现代奥斯曼巴尔干地区的水稻栽培和环境变化

全球大米市场的演变与资本主义的兴起有关。然而，这个全球市场的形成并未考虑到近代早期奥斯曼国家水稻种植的扩张，也没有探讨其对奥斯曼东地中海的环境影响。本文追溯了 15 至 17 世纪奥斯曼巴尔干地区水稻生产的历史。以菲利贝市（普罗夫迪夫，今保加利亚）的水稻农业为例，它追溯了随着水稻农业的传播在该地区出现的新水景的原因和影响，包括环境和经济。它认为这些新水景的出现与整个地区的农业变化过程有关，对土地的新控制形式，在某些情况下引入雇佣劳动。特别令人感兴趣的是 1583 年的一项政府命令，该命令重复了 Filibe 精英居民对城市空气不良和发烧流行的抱怨，居民明确将其归咎于当地的稻田。本文探讨了对水稻农业的反应如何成为近代早期经济活动与环境变化之间关系的新兴意识的一部分。它还在全球经济转型中构建了当地环境变化的框架。居民明确归咎于当地的稻田。本文考察了对水稻农业的反应如何成为近代早期经济活动与环境变化之间关系的新兴意识的一部分。它还在全球经济转型中构建了当地环境变化的框架。居民明确归咎于当地的稻田。本文探讨了对水稻农业的反应如何成为近代早期经济活动与环境变化之间关系的新兴意识的一部分。它还在全球经济转型中构建了当地环境变化的框架。