Timothy Olin, associate professor of history at Central College, will release a new book in early February, “The Banat of Temesvar, Borderland Colonization in the Habsburg Monarchy.” The public and Central campus community are invited to hear Olin read from his book and ask questions from 5:30-6:30 p.m., Thursday, February 6, in the Boat, Moore, Weller Rooms, Maytag Student Center, on Central’s campus.
The book explores the establishment and development of a multi-ethnic frontier society on the Habsburg – Ottoman border, in the historic region of the Banat (today divided between Romania, Serbia and Hungary). After it passed from Ottoman to Habsburg control in the early 18th century, the Habsburgs sought to settle the region with Western and Central European migrants, mainly, though not exclusively, German-speakers from the Holy Roman Empire.
Olin argues this policy led to destabilizing demographic changes and laid the foundations for the ethno-religious tensions that characterized the region through the twentieth century and beyond.
Olin’s book is published by Stanford University Press. It is available at https://www.sup.org/books/history/banat-temesvar