OTTOWAQF will examine how religious foundations shaped state building in the Ottoman Empire during a crucial period between 1450 and 1650. Religious foundations controlled vast swaths of land and property across the empire to support mosques, schools, hospitals, and many others charitable activities. As a result, they formed the most widespread and powerful social institutions within the empire and in Islamic countries. Yet their role in state formation is overlooked. OTTOWAQF will examine the political and economic impact of foundations on the state to develop a new model of state power in the Ottoman Empire that takes into account the participation of a wide range of social actors from across the empire in the development of the early modern Ottoman state.