Ottoman Empire, 1299–1683
The growth of ottoman empire
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In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Ottoman Empire was among the world's most powerful political entities, with the powers of eastern Europe constantly threatened by its steady advance through the Balkans, the Kingdom of Hungary and the southern part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Its navy was also a powerful force in the Mediterranean. On several occasions, the Ottoman army invaded central Europe, laying siege to Vienna in 1529 and again in 1683 in an attempt to conquer the Habsburg domain, and was finally repulsed only by great coalitions of European powers at sea and on land. It was the only non-European power to seriously challenge the growing influence of the West between the 15th and 20th centuries, eventually becoming an integral part of European balance of power politics, hence blurring the distinctions.

The dissolution of the empire was a direct consequence of World War I, when the Allied Powers defeated the Central Powers in Europe as well as the Ottoman forces in the Middle Eastern theatre. At the end of the war, the Ottoman government collapsed and Ottoman territory was divided among the victorious powers. Subsequent years saw the creation of new states from the remnants of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Turkey among them. The new republic declared most of the former ruling elite, including the Ottoman Dynasty, persona non grata. In 1974, after 50 years, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey granted the right to re-acquire Turkish citizenship to the descendants of the former ruling dynasty, (Ertuğrul Osman V, head of the House of Ottoman, repatriated in 2004).

History

Graphical timeline

Map of the decline
of the Ottoman Empire
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An examination of Ottoman history from a political and military viewpoint will be presented here; a socioeconomic analysis is treated in separate articles, divided between two periods, the classic period (sometimes referred to as the "era of enlargement"), and the reform period (also called "the era of Westernisation"). As the fullest understanding of Ottoman history may only be achieved through comparative study of these differing perspectives, rather than either alone, both are recommended to the attention of the interested reader.

Origins

When the Seljuk state was in the process of collapse, the various beyliks, or territories, of Anatolia came into conflict with one another, with the Ottoman beylik eventually emerging as the supreme power in the region. In 1299, Osman I declared the independence of the Ottoman beylik, which had gradually been developed by the now-settled Kayı. The history of the tribe before Osman I extended back through Osman's father Ertuğrul to his grandfather Süleyman Shah, who was drowned in the river Euphrates in the year 1227 whilst fleeing the advance of the Mongol hordes.

Mehmed II conquered Constantinople and made it the new Ottoman capital in 1453.
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Rise (1299–1453)

The Ottoman state existed before Osman I (Arabic: عُثمَان ʿUthmān; hence the name Ottoman Empire). However he is regarded as the founder of the empire, as he named it and was the first bey (chieftain) to declare his independence. He extended the frontiers of Ottoman settlement towards the Byzantine Empire, while other Turkish beyliks suffered from infighting. Under Osman I, the Ottoman capital moved to Bursa. In centuries to come, his age would be recalled with the phrase, "May he be as good as Osman".

Ottoman historians attached great importance to "Osman's Dream" and its supposed significance in the foundation of the Empire. The dream is also an example of Turkish oral tradition. The historian von Hammer cites the story.

Hauberk covered with plate armour
with Turkish leg's protection from plated
mail; English tower, St. Peter's
castle, Bodrum, Turkey
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Mehmed II was only 12 years old when he became sultan for the first time, and he was reputed to have been a capable warrior. Mehmed II enjoyed the full support of the empire, and used this to reorganise the structure of both the state and the military. He demonstrated his military prowess by his capture of Constantinople in 1453 (which marked the final defeat and collapse of the Byzantine Empire); the city became the new capital of the Ottoman Empire, being renamed Istanbul.

Growth

Ottoman Expansion, 1300-1699
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Battle of Vienna, painting by Józef Brandt
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Expansion and apogee (1453–1566)

Under Selim and above all Suleiman, the empire briefly became a highly proficient and dominant naval force, controlling the eastern Mediterranean and exerting an effective offensive capability into the western sector. The Ottoman admiral Barbarossa ended the Spanish occupation of Tunis and Algeria. During the Spanish Inquisition, Barbarossa evacuated Muslims and Jews from Spain to the safety of Ottoman lands, particularly, Salonica, Cyprus, and the newly conquered, and empty city of Istanbul. In 1543 the forces of the French king Francis I (whose mother had requested the help of the Ottoman Sultan against the Holy Roman Empire, underlining the religious divisions in Europe at the time) and Barbarossa combined to capture Nice on behalf of France. France was the empire's major European ally in this period; both powers were united by their mutual opposition to Hapsburg Spain, and the Ottomans' grant of the right to trade within their empire without levy of taxation was an economic boon for France.

The newly global reach allowed by improved naval capability, and the need to balance the influence of the European states, saw efforts to combat the European powers (most particularly Portugal) in the Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean and the Spice Islands. The strain on the empire's resources, and the logistics of maintaining lines of supply and communication across such vast distances, rendered these efforts unsustainable and ultimately unsuccessful. Crucially, the empire's two main theatres of war, Austria-Hungary and Iran, lay in opposite directions from the capital, Istanbul, at gruelling distances, and the overriding military need for defence in these areas, which marked the western and eastern frontiers of the empire, rendered effective long-term engagement elsewhere impossible. Nevertheless, the Ottomans' strategic vision in this period, and their partial success in global campaigning, was striking and ambitious. With the Ottomans blockading sea lanes to the East and South, the European powers were driven to find another way to the ancient Silk and Spice routes, now under absolute Ottoman control.

The Ottoman Empire reached its apogee during Suleiman the Magnificent's reign. It was by now a highly significant and accepted part of the European political sphere and entered into an alliance with France, England and Holland against Habsburg Spain, Italy and Habsburg Germany.

Revolts and Revival (1566–1683)

On the battlefield, the Ottomans were gradually falling behind Europe in military technology as growing religious and intellectual conservatism stifled the innovation that had marked the empire's forceful expansion. The Sipahi cavalry was becoming an obsolescent force, and relaxations of recruitment policy and excessive growth of the Janissary corps to the detriment of other Ottoman military units led to chronic problems in maintaining the discipline and unit cohesion necessary for effective military performance.

Economically, the huge inflow of Spanish silver from the New World caused a sharp devaluation of the Ottoman currency and rampant inflation. This had serious negative consequences across all strata of Ottoman society, including widespread lawlessness and rebellion in Anatolia in the late 16th and early 17th centuries (commonly known as the Celalî rebellions), and Janissary revolts that toppled Sultans and ministers.

Nevertheless, modern historians have been reassessing the conventional view of the 17th century as an era of pure stagnation and decline, instead viewing it as the key period in which the Ottoman state and its structures began to adapt to new pressures and new realities, internal and external. The relative ineffectiveness of most individual Sultans led to actual governance devolving to various proxies; at first to powerful members of the Harem, and, later, to the Grand Viziers, important among whom were the sternly reactionary Mehmed Koprullu (1656-1661), and his more moderate son Fazil Ahmed Koprullu (1661-1676), under whom the state reasserted itself with some vigour. The warrior Sultan Murad IV (1612–1640), who recaptured Erivan (1635) and Baghdad (1639) from the Safavids, is the lone example in this era of a Sultan who wrested effective control of the empire into his own hands.

The Pyramid within the Harem

Until 582 the Harem was under the same administration of the white eunuchs whichcontrolled the Palace School where the elite boys were trained for the chief offices of the empire. The structure of training was the same too, but not the subjects. Both had affinities with the guild system. For example, the young girls were admitted to the Harem as acemi, which was the same term as that usedfoi the boys and meant cadet rather than recruit. Like the pages, they were kul, or members of the Iarger family of the sultan, rather than slaves who could be bought or sold.

The white eunuchs could propose which graduates from either school might be married to each other . The novices were registered and their training began at once. They were admitted to a dormitory with divans along the walls and there were old women in charge of groups of ten of them. Lights were left burning all night to expose lesbian advances.1s To prevent beastliness, long radishes, cucumbers and such were sent from the kitchens ready cut: so extreme was the need to prevent wanton behaviour since young, lusty and lascivious girls without men could only have unchaste thoughts.xxx

Despite internal conflict within the Ottoman bureaucracy and military, the 17th century saw the empire expand its frontiers to their furthest reach, with notable gains under the Koprullu administration in Crete, Southern Ukraine and Podolia.

The defeat of Ottoman forces led by Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha at the second siege of Vienna in 1683, at the hands of the combined armies of Poland and the Holy Roman Empire under Jan III Sobieski, was the decisive event that swung the balance of power in the region in favour of the European nations. Under the terms of the Treaty of Karlowitz, which ended the Great Turkish War in 1699, the Ottomans ceded nearly all of Hungary, Transylvania, the Morea and Podolia. They also acknowledged, for the first time in their history, that the Austrian Empire could treat with them on equal terms.

Decline

Reform (1699–1827)

During the "Tulip Era" (لاله دورى Lâle Devri), named for Sultan Ahmed II's love of the tulip flower and its use to symbolize his peaceful reign, the empire's policy towards Europe underwent a shift. The region was peaceful between 1718–1730, after the Ottoman defeat of Russia in the Pruth Campaign in 1712 and the subsequent Treaty of Passarowitz brought about a pause in warfare. The empire began to improve the fortifications of cities bordering the Balkans to act as a defence against European expansionism. Other tentative reforms were also enacted: taxes were lowered; there were attempts to improve the image of the Ottoman state; and the first instances of private investment and entrepreneurship occurred. These measures, however, failed to halt the empire's decline. The technological and scientific advantages the Ottomans had once enjoyed over the European countries had long since evaporated. The 100-year lag between the European invention of the printing press and its introduction into the Ottoman Empire was in part due to the regressive influence of religious authorities, who deemed all technology as "the Devil's Invention".

Ottoman military reform efforts Sultan Selim III (1789-1807) made the first major attempts to modernise the army along European lines. These efforts, however, were hampered by reactionism, partly from the religious leadership, but primarily from the Janissary corps, who had become anarchic and ineffectual, jealous of their privileges and firmly opposed to change. Selim's efforts cost him his throne and his life, but were resolved in spectacular and bloody fashion by his successor, the dynamic Mahmud II, who massacred the Janissary corps in 1826. During Selim's reign, the French, led by Napoleon, invaded and occupied Egypt from 1798 until their defeat and expulsion by the British in 1801. This was only the beginning of gradual European invasion and occupation of Ottoman territory during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Modernisation (1828–1908)

The Tanzimat period (from Turkish تنظيمات tanzîmât, meaning "reorganisation") lasted from 1839 to 1876. During this period, many significant changes were implemented: a fairly modern conscripted army was organised; the banking system was reformed; and the guilds were replaced with modern factories. Economically, the empire had difficulty in repaying its loans to European banks; at the same time, it faced military challenges in defending itself against foreign invasion and occupation: Egypt, for instance, was occupied by the French in 1798, while Cyprus was occupied by the British in 1876. In a significant shift in military and diplomatic policy, the empire ceased to enter conflicts on its own and began to forge alliances with European countries. There were a series such alliances with France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Russia. As an example, in the Crimean War the Ottomans united with the British, French, and others against Imperial Russia.

The rise of nationalism swept many countries during the 19th century, and the Ottoman Empire was not immune. A burgeoning national consciousness, together with a growing sense of ethnic nationalism, made nationalistic thought one of the most significant Western ideas imported by the Ottoman empire, as it was forced to deal with nationalism-related issues both within and beyond its borders. There was a significant increase in the number of revolutionary political parties. Uprisings in Ottoman territory had many far-reaching consequences during the 19th century and determined much of Ottoman policy during the early 20th century. Many Ottoman Turks questioned whether the policies of the state were to blame: some felt that the sources of ethnic conflict were external, and unrelated to issues of governance. While this era was not without some successes, the ability of the Ottoman state to have any effect on ethnic uprisings was seriously called into question.

Despite the empire's label as the "sick man of Europe", from an economic perspective, the empire's actual weakness did not reside in its developing economy, but the cultural gap which separated it from the European powers. The empire's problems were, in fact, the result of an inability to deal with the new problems created by the conflict betwen external imperialism and rising internal nationalism. (See socioeconomics during the Ottoman reformation era.)

The era of the empire's First Constitutional government (برنجى مشروطيت دورى Birinci Meşrûtiyyet Devri), was short-lived; however, the idea (Ottomanism) behind the movement proved influential. A wide-ranging group of reformers known as the Young Ottomans, primarily educated in Western universities, believed that a constitutional monarchy would provide an answer to the empire's growing social unrest. Through a military coup in 1876, they forced Sultan Abdülaziz (1861-1876) to abdicate in favour of Murad V. Unfortunately, Murad V proved to be mentally ill, and was deposed within a few months. His heir-apparent Abdülhamid II (1876-1909) was invited to assume power on the condition that he declare a constitutional monarchy, which he did on 23 November 1876. The subsequent constitution—called the Kanûn-ı Esâsî (قانون اساسى, meaning "Basic Law"),written by members of the Young Ottomans—was in effect for only two years.

These reforms did not halt the rise of nationalism in the Danubian Principalities and Serbia, which had been semi-independent for almost 6 decades; in 1875 Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Wallachia and Moldova declared their independence from the Empire; following the Russo-Turkish war, independence was formally granted to Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and Montenegro, with the other territories remaining under Ottoman control .

Dissolution (1908–1922)

The Balkan Wars, following the Italian occupation of Libya in 1911, were the first real test for the Committee of Union and Progress. The new Balkan states formed at the end of the 19th century sought additional territories from Albania, Macedonia, and Thrace, on the grounds of ethnic nationalism. Initially, with Russia acting as an intermediary, agreements were concluded between Serbia and Bulgaria in March 1912, and between Greece and Bulgaria in May 1912. Montenegro subsequently concluded agreements between Serbia and Bulgaria in October 1912. The Serbian-Bulgarian agreement specifically called for the partition of Macedonia, which was the chief casus belli of the First Balkan War; the Second Balkan War followed soon after the first. The political repercussions of the Balkan Wars led to the coup of 1913, and the subsequent rule of the Three Pashas.

The Ottoman Empire took part in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I, under the terms of the Ottoman-German Alliance. The Ottoman met with some military success in the early years of the war, particularly at the Battle of Gallipoli; there were setbacks as well, however, such as the disastrous Caucasus Campaign against the Russians. The Ottoman government also faced difficulties on the home front, including isolated Armenian rebellions in eastern Anatolia that led to an order for the deportation of all Armenians from the region in the winter of 1915-16. In the course of this deportation some 50,000 to 1.5 million Armenians were killed in what most academics call genocide, which a mostly Turkish minority defines as civil war. The Armenian resistance at the Van was significant; the core resistance group formed the First Armenian Republic. The Russian Revolution of 1917 gave the Ottomans the opportunity to regain lost ground; however, in the face of continued British offensives on other fronts, these efforts proved unsustainable. The eventual Ottoman defeat came from a combination of coordinated attacks on strategic targets by British forces commanded by Edmund Allenby, assisted by the Arab Revolt. The initial cease-fire agreement was the Armistice of Mudros; under the terms of the subsequent Treaty of Sèvres the empire was to submit to partition under the mandate of the British and French, and formally recognise the Democratic Republic of Armenia (the terms of this treaty were superseded by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne). The United Kingdom obtained virtually everything it had sought under the secret agreement made with France in 1916, in the midst of the war. The other powers of the Triple Entente, however, soon became entangled in the Turkish War of Independence.

Departure of Mehmed VI, just days prior to his exile.(larger image)

Ultimately, the main reasons for the fall of the Ottoman Empire can be attributed to the failure of its economic structure; the size of the empire created problems. Also the empire's communication technology did not migrate into the empire's state structure. The trade dynamics were based on non-state elements. In many ways, the circumstances surrounding the Ottoman Empire's fall closely paralleled those surrounding the fall of the Roman Empire, particularly in terms of the ongoing tensions among the empires' populations and the respective governments' inability to deal with these tensions. In the case of the Ottomans, the introduction of a parliamentary system during the Tanzimat proved to be too late to reverse the damage that had already been done.

State

The Ottoman state revolutionised its administrative system with the aid and experience of Greeks and other Christians, Muslims, and Jews, while many other states still held tightly to their own religions and national identities. The rapidly expanding empire utilised skilled subjects to manage the empire, who were often selected from among loyal Phanariot Greeks, Armenians, and others. From the perspective of the West, this eclectic administration was apparent even in the diplomatic correspondence of the empire, which was undertaken in the Greek language. Like the Byzantines before them, the Ottomans practised a system in which the state had control of the clergy. The nomadic Turkic forms of land tenure were largely retained—with a number of unique adjustments—in the Ottoman Empire. Certain pre-Islamic Turkish traditions that had survived the adoption of administrative and legal practices from Islamic Iran continued to be important in Ottoman administrative circles. In the Ottoman judiciary, for example, the courts were run by kadı (قاضی), religious judges appointed by the sultan who exercised direct control over members of the religious establishment. Ultimately, the Ottoman administrative system was a blend of influences derived from the Turkish nomads, the Byzantines, and the Islamic world.

The Ottomans were primarily administrators and not producers in the sense that the empire did not employ a program of economic exploitation, as did the colonial empires of the modern European states. Its economic outlook (fiscalism) stressed abundance and regulated prices within the marketplace to ensure social stability, and the state never developed a Western mercantile outlook, leaving commerce very largely in the hands of the non-Muslim population. According to Ottoman understanding, the state's primary responsibility was to defend and extend the land of the Muslims and to ensure security and harmony within its borders within the overarching context of orthodox Islamic practice and dynastic sovereignty.

House of Osman

Throughout Ottoman history, however—despite the supreme de jure authority of the sultans and the occasional exercise of de facto authority by Grand Viziers—there were many instances in which local governors acted independently, and even in opposition to the ruler. There are, for instance, eleven incidents in which the sultan was deposed because he was perceived as a threat to the state. On the other hand, although new sultans were always chosen from among the sons of the previous sultan, there was a strong educational system in place that was geared towards eliminating the unfit and establishing a common trust among the ruling elite for the son before he was actually crowned. Only two failed attempts were made in the whole of Ottoman history to unseat the ruling Osmanlı dynasty, suggestive of a high level of political stability.

Imperial Harem

The harem had its own internal organisation, and order of formulating policies. Beneath the Valide Sultan in the hierarchy was the Hasseki Sultana, the mother of the sultan's first-born son, who had the highest chance of becoming the next Valide Sultan. The sultan also had four other official wives, who were each called Hasseki Kadın. Next in rank below the sultan's wives were his eight favourite concubines (ikbâls or hâs odalıks), and then the other concubines whom the sultan favoured and who were termed gözde. Next in rank were the concubines of other court officials. Pupils (acemî) and novices (câriye or şâhgird) were younger women who were either waiting to be married off to someone or who had not yet graduated out of the Harem School.

Palace schools

The Divan (Council)

Imperial Government

The Divan, in the years when the Ottoman state was still a beylik, was composed of the elders of the tribe. Its composition was later modified to include military officers and local elites (such as religious and political advisors). These individuals became known as viziers. Later still, beginning in the year 1320, a Grand Vizier (صدر اﻋظم Sadr-ı a'zam) was appointed in order to assume certain of the sultan's responsibilities. The Sublime Porte, which became synonymous with the Ottoman government, was in fact the gate to the Grand Vizier's headquarters, and the place where the sultan formally greeted foreign ambassadors. At times throughout Ottoman history, the authority of the Grand Vizier was to equal, or even on some occasions surpass, that of the sultan.

After the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, the Ottoman state became a constitutional monarchy without executive powers, and a parliament was formed, with representatives chosen from the provinces.

At the height of its power, the Ottoman Empire contained 29 provinces, in addition to the tributary principalities of Moldavia, Transylvania, and Wallachia.

The Tughra of Süleyman
the Magnificent (1520)
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Insignia

Society

Concept of Nation

Ultimately, the Ottoman Empire's relatively high degree of tolerance for ethnic differences proved to be one of its greatest strengths in integrating the new regions until the rise of nationalism (this non-assimilative policy became a weakness during the dissolution of the empire that neither the first or second parliaments could successfully address).

"..the Ottoman family was ethnically Turkish in its origins, as were some of its supporters and subjects. But .. the dynasty immediately lost this "Turkish" ethnic identification through intermarriage with many different ethnicities. As for a "Turkish empire", state power relied on a similarly heterogeneous mix of peoples. The Ottoman empire succeeded because it incorporated the energies of the vastly varied peoples it encountered, quickly transcending its roots in the Turkish nomadic migrations from Central Asia into the Middle East."

Slavery

King Faisal I: Party at Versailles, during the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.
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It was believed that a corps of highly trained slaves loyal only to the ruler and dependent entirely on his good will would serve the state more reliably and efficiently than a hereditary nobility, whose interests might compete with those of the ruler. –Leslie P. Peirce, The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire, 1993[2]

A member of the Ottoman slave class, called a kul in Turkish, could achieve high status. Harem guards and janissaries are some of the better known positions a slave could hold, but slaves actually were at the forefront of Ottoman politics. The majority of officials of the Ottoman government were bought slaves, they were raised free, but they were integral to the success of the Ottomans from the fourteenth century to the nineteenth. By raising and specially training slaves as officials, not only did they get administrators with intricate knowledge of government and fanatic loyalty, but they cut back corruption as an administrator would have no ties in the region, thus he would not favor one person over another when granting contracts.[citation needed] In Constantinople (today Istanbul), the administrative and political centre of the Empire, about one-fifth of the population consisted of slaves.[4]

Early Ottoman slavery

Ottoman slavery in Eastern Europe

Rural slavery was largely a Caucasian phenomenon, carried to Anatolia and Rumelia after the Circassian migration in 1864.[9] Conflicts emerged within the immigrant community and the Ottoman Establishment, at times, intervened on the side of the slaves.[10]

For a long time, until the early 18th century Crimean Khanate maintained massive slave trade with the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East. In a process called "harvesting of the steppe" Crimean Tatars enslaved many Slavic peasants. The Crimean Khanate was undoubtedly one of the strongest powers in Eastern Europe; the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia suffered a series of Tatar invasions, the goal of which was to loot, pillage and capture slaves into jasyr.[11] The borderland area to the south-east was in a state of semi-permanent warfare until the 18th century. It is estimated that up to 75% of the Crimean population consisted of slaves or freedmen.[12]

Barbary slave raids

Slaves in the Imperial Harem

The concubines were guarded by enslaved eunuchs, often of African origin. The eunuchs presented another problem, because Islamic law forbade the emasculation of a man. Ethiopian Christians, however, had no such compunctions; and thus they enslaved and emasculated members of neighboring nations, and sold the resulting eunuchs to the Ottoman Porte.[16]

Decline and suppression of Ottoman slavery

A series of legal acts was issued that limited the slavery of white people initially, and of those of all races and religions later.

In 1830 a firman of Sultan Mahmud II gave freedom to white slaves. This category included mainly the Circassians, who had the custom of selling their own children, Greeks who revolted against the Empire in 1821, and some others.

Another firman abolishing the trade of Circassian children was issued in October 1854. A firman to the Pasha of Egypt in 1857 and an order to the viziers of various local authorities in the Near East, Greece, Cyprus etc in 1858, prohibited the trade of black slaves but did not order the liberation of already existing slaves.

However, slavery and the slave trade in Ottoman Empire continued, as legal texts like the above were not backed by a penalty system. For the first time, a circular of July 20, 1871 introduced the penalty of one year's imprisonment for those who practised the slave trade.

Eventually, trafficking in slaves was expressly forbidden by utilizing what were effectively clever loopholes in the application of sharia, or Islamic law. For example, by the terms of the sharia, any slaves who were taken could not be kept as slaves if they had been Muslim prior to their capture. They could also not be captured legitimately without a formal declaration of war, which could only be issued by the Sultan. As late Ottoman Sultans, who wished to halt slavery, did not authorize raids for the purpose of capturing slaves, it effectively became illegal to procure any new slaves at all (although those already in slavery would remain slaves), allowing slavery to die a slow and quiet death in the Ottoman lands.[17][18]

Towards the end of the 19th century, the trade of black slaves gradually ceased in places controlled by western powers but continued undercover in places around the Indian Ocean (East Africa, Arabian Peninsula, etc.). Some of this trafficking used areas under Ottoman rule. Britain and the Ottoman Empire, after the former pressed the latter on this matter, signed a treaty in 1880 for the abolition of slavery and the slave trade. However, the treaty was only enforced as Ottoman law in 1889.

The Ottoman Empire and sixteen other countries signed the Brussels Conference Act for the suppression of the slave trade in 1890. It seems though that clandestine slavery persisted even in the early 20th century. A circular by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of October 1895 warned the local authorities that in some steam-ships black sailors were being stripped of their “certificates of liberation” and again thrown into slavery. Another circular of the same year reveals that “frequently” some newly freed black slaves were arrested and kept in prison for unfounded accusations and were sometimes forced back to their lords. An instruction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the Vali of Bassora of 1897 ordered that the children of liberated slaves should be issued separate certificates of liberation so that (the children) would avoid slavery and separation from their parents. George Young, then Second Secretary of the British Embassy in Constantinople, wrote in his Corpus of Ottoman Law, published in 1905, that by the time the book was written the slave trade in the Ottoman Empire was only practised as contraband.[19] This trade continued at least till the 1st WW period. Henry Morgenthau, Sr. who served as USA Ambassador in Constantinople from 1913 till 1916, in his "Ambassador Morgenthau's Story" writes that during his term in Constantinople there were gangs trading white slaves.[20] He also mentions that Armenian girls were sold as slaves for as low as 80 cents during the Armenian Genocide events in 1915.[21]

Culture

One of the roots of Ottoman culture comes from the Oghuz Turks with their Central Asian Turkic nomadic culture. As the Oghuz passed into Anatolia through Persia over a period of a few hundred years they absorbed many elements of Persian culture. Following Sultan Mehmed II's capture of Istanbul in 1453, many aspects of Byzantine—and, more broadly, European—culture began to be integrated into Ottoman culture. As the empire expanded in subsequent years, different cultures were brought into this mix, enriching it still further.

This Ottoman multicultural perspective reflects on their policies. One of the reasons that the Ottoman Empire lasted as long as it did was the highly tolerant policies pursued originating from their nomadic inheritance. This statement should be taken as a comparison to assimilative medieval times (east and west). The Ottoman State pursued multi-cultural and multi-religious policies - accommodating different perspectives. Two examples of this are the Ottoman justice system and the regional governors. As the Ottomans moved further west, the Ottoman leaders themselves absorbed some of the culture of conquered regions. In addition, with intercultural marriages, new cultural structures were gradually added to the Ottomans, creating the characteristic Ottoman elite culture. When compared to common Turkish arts (folkloric), the assimilation of the Ottoman elites to these new cultures is apparent.

Architecture

Concepts of Ottoman architecture mainly circles around the mosque. The society and mosque was being envisioned as an entity interconnected with city planning and communal life. Beside the mosque, there were soup kitchens, theological schools, hospitals, Turkish baths and tombs.

Examples of Ottoman architecture of the classical period, aside from Istanbul and Edirne, can also be seen in Egypt, Eritrea, Tunisia, Algiers, the Balkans and Hungary, where mosques, bridges, fountains and schools were built.

Language

The Sultans had a very mixed ethnic lineage because the Sultans married women from various backgrounds. They spoke their mother tongue: Ottoman, Persian, Turkish, Greek, Arabic and some European languages.

In cosmopolitan cities, people often spoke their family languages, some Ottoman if they were educated, and some Arabic if they were Muslim. In the last two centuries, French and English emerged as popular languages where the elite learned French at school, and used European products as a fashion statement. All ethnicities who had their own language continued to speak their own language in their family, in villages where two populations lived together, the two populations would often speak each other's language (Cyprus:Greek/Turkish, the Balkans: Albanian/ Greek/ Serbian/ Bulgarian, Eastern Turkey: Kurdish/ Turkish/ Armenian, Northeastern Turkey: Laz/ Georgian/ Greek/ Turkish).

Music

Ottoman classical music arose largely from a confluence of Byzantine music, Arab music, and Persian music. Compositionally, it is organised around rhythmic units called usul, which are somewhat similar to meter in Western music, and melodic units called makam, which bear some resemblance to Western musical modes. The instruments used are a mixture of Anatolian and Central Asian instruments (the saz, the bağlama, the kemence), other Middle Eastern instruments (the ud, the tanbur, the kanun, the ney), and—later in the tradition—Western instruments (the violin, the piano).

In the provinces, several different kinds of Folk music were created. The most dominant regions with their distinguished musical styles are: Balkan-Thracian Turkus, North-Eastern Turkus(Laz), Aegean Turkus, Central Anatolian Turkus, Eastern Anatolian Turkus, and Caucasian Turkus. Istanbul does not have any Turkus, because it has the Turkish Classical Music.

Cuisine

Ottoman Cuisine is one of the most diverse and advanced cuisines in the World, and is based on the culmination of Ottoman regional and ethnic dishes and technological and innovational advancement of these with new ingredients and cooking techniques. Ottoman Cuisine ranks up with the elegance of French and the complexity of the Chinese cuisine, and today reaches millions of people's palates through Greek, Turkish and Middle Eastern restaurants in the United States and Europe.

Ottoman Cuisine is also a palatal bridge between the East and the West, where one can find Bread (European) and Rice or Noodles (Asian), on the same dinner table for the same meal.

The Imperial cooks were tested and hired by their method of cooking rice, a simple dish. They were brought over from various places to experiment and invent new dishes, which first passed by the palate of the Chesnidjibashi (the imperial food taster), who tested the food for poison and taste before it was served to the Sultan. These cooks experimented with such extreme textures and ingredients.

Few examples of Extreme Ottoman Cooking: Tavuk Gogsu (Chicken Breast Pudding): As the name states, chicken breast was beaten to strings and added as a texture to fine rice pudding to create this delicacy. Sonmus Kirec Kaymaginda Pismis Bal Kabagi Tatlisi (Pumpkin desert cooked on chalk) Shark Dolma: A seafood twist to a traditional dolma. Camel Dolma: An extravagant twist to a traditional dolma, where a camel is stuffed with 4 sheep, and the sheeps are stuffed with chicken, and rice, for a wedding or a feast.

Lifestyle

In general, Turks take their shoes off in the house. There are slippers that are designated to home use. This custom was carried through centuries as the Turkish babies have been free to move and adults can rest on the floor. This custom aimed in keeping the carpet and kilim clean. Women and girls take up carpet and kilim weaving as a means of earning money.

The court (Topkapi)

The sultan was served by an army of pages and scholars. Twenty-five of these served in the kitchen and in the larder. Others served in the Treasury and the Armoury, maintaining the sultan's treasures and weapons. There where also a branch of servants that were said to serve the Chamber of Campaign, i.e. they accompanied the sultan and his court while on campaign. The best of the pages was chosen to serve the sultan in person. One was responsible for the sultan's clothing, one served him with drinks, one carried his weaponry, one helped him mount his horse, one was responsible for making his turban and a barber shaved the sultan every day. At the palace served also a great number of stewards who carried food, water and wood throughout the palace and lit the fireplaces and braziers. The corps of doorkeepers (Kapıcı) numbered several hundred and were responsible for opening the doors throughout the entire palace. The chief doorkeeper was responsible for escorting important guests to the sultan. A number of lackeys (Çikadar) served as messengers in the palace and the city and from one of these were the Imperial Herald (Divan Çavısı, literally "sergeant of the divan") who was a man entrusted by the sultan to various tasks, among others to inform people who would take part in meetings of the Divan.

The Harem was under the administration of the eunuchs, of which there were two categories, Black and White Eunuchs. Black Eunuchs were Africans who served the concubines and officials in the Harem and together with chamber maidens of low rank. The White Eunuchs were Europeans from the Balkans. They served the recruits at the Palace School (see below) and were from 1582 prohibited from entering the Harem. An important figure in the Ottoman court was the Chief Black Eunuch (Kızlar Ağası or Harem Ağası). In control of the Harem and a perfect net of spies in the Black Eunuchs, the Chief Eunuch was involved in almost every palace intrigue and could thereby gain power over either the sultan or one of his viziers, ministers or other court officials.

The Harem was a small world in itself. Often the mother of the current sultan (Valide Sultan) was a politically influential person. She also selected the concubines for her son. The concubines could live in or around the palace for their entire life, and it supported them with whatever they needed. Women not found suitable for the sultan were married off to eligible bachelors from the Ottoman nobility or sent back home. Female servants did all the chores such as serving food and making the beds. Male (sometimes eunuch) white and black servants did the hard work such as shopping, guarding the palaces and maintaining the gardens and palaces.

Every prince has his own place. It is a tradition to take the bride from her house and take it to where she will be building her new familiy.

The provincial capitals

Religion

Similar millets were established for the Ottoman Jewish community, who were under the authority of the Haham Başı or Ottoman Chief Rabbi; the Armenian Orthodox community, who were under the authority of a head bishop; and a number of other religious communities as well.

Adoption of Islam

State and Religion

Economy

Law

These court categories were not, however, wholly exclusive in nature: for instance, the Islamic courts—which were the empire's primary courts—could also be used to settle a trade conflict or disputes between litigants of differing religions, and Jews and Christians often went to them so as to obtain a more forceful ruling on an issue. Women nearly always choose the Islamic courts, as these courts tended to be fairer towards them and to give them more just recompense.

Throughout the empire, there were two systems of law in effect: one was the Islamic sharia (شريعة) law system, and the other was the Turkish kanun system. The Ottoman state tended not to interfere with non-Muslim religious law systems, despite legally having a voice to do so through local governors. The Islamic sharia law system had been developed from a combination of the Qur'ān (قرآن); the Hadīth (حدیث), or sayings of the prophet Muhammad; ijmā' (اجماع), or consensus of the members of the Muslim community; qiyas (قياس), a system of analogical reasoning from previous precedents; and local customs. The kanun law system, on the other hand, was the secular law of the sultan, and dealt with issues not clearly addressed by the sharia system. Both systems were taught at the empire's law schools, which were in Istanbul and Bursa.

Military

The modernisation of the Ottoman empire in the 19th century started with the military. This was the first institution to hire foreign experts and which sent their officer corps for training in western European countries. Technology and new weapons were transferred to the empire, such as German and British guns, air force and a modern navy.

Janissary

Nizamis

Military Band

The Long-Awaited Palestinian Mahdi is Already Among Us

"'One of the trustworthy comrades – a prominent and well-known figure, whose name need not be disclosed – told me that about four years ago (i.e. in 2004), as he was stepping out of his car, he saw an old woman, who said to him: I want you to take me to the hospital to see my daughter, who has just given birth; I want to take her home. He decided to do her a favor and gave her a lift.

"'At the hospital, he waited for an hour while the woman fetched her daughter and the baby, and then they all got into the car – whereupon the baby spoke, saying: May peace, Allah's mercy, and His blessing be upon you! They replied to the baby, Peace be upon you!

"'As [the comrade] told us, and as we, Allah be thanked, relayed to Sheikh Nizar and other scholars and great sheikhs, the newborn infant enunciated: I am the man whom the anti-Christ will kill – whereupon no one will rule either over or after me.

"'The Prophet Muhammad's hadith, may Allah's prayer and blessing for peace be upon Him, states that at the time he is killed [the Mahdi] will be between 18 and 20 years old – these are the tidings. Of course, prior to the arrival of the anti-Christ, Rome, Italy, and Constantinople will be conquered – for the Prophet said... that these [places] would be conquered only by the righteous Mahdi, peace be upon him, who is from Palestine – as has been foretold by Imams and great scholars Mu'ath bin Jabal, Sa'd bin Abi Waqqas, and 'Abd Allah bin Mas'oud.'

"At this point, the TV host asked [the comrade]: 'Is the child being watched over?' And he replied: 'Yes, today he has become famous, and he is being watched over. The comrades are very concerned about his [well-being], Allah be thanked. What I would like to convey to the people and to the scholars is that the days [in which we live] are [the days] of victories, Allah be thanked, that the promised Mahdi has been sent to us, Allah be thanked, and that Palestine's residents will become the people of the banner – they are the bearers of this religion, and the ones who will spread it.'

"With this utterance, quoted [here] verbatim, His Eminence Sheikh 'Issa Badwan ended [the interview] with Al-Aqsa TV, and whoever wishes to hear or see [it] for himself must follow the link below, to ascertain that I am not twisting [facts] or maligning either the Al-Aqsa satellite channel or Sheikh 'Issa Badwan.[23]"

» Palestinian Journalist and Intellectual Criticizes Hamas TV Reports of Mahdi's Birth & Prediction Of Conquest Of Rome

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General surveys

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to 1830

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• Melis, Nicola, "The importance of Hormuz for Luso-Ottoman Gulf-centred policies in the 16th century: Some observations based on contemporary sources", in R. Loureiro-D. Couto (eds.), Revisiting Hormuz - Portuguese Interactions in the Persian Gulf Region in the Early Modern Period, "Maritime Asia" 19, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian/Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2008, pp. 107–120.
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• Shaw, Stanford J. History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, Vol I; Empire of Gazis: The Rise and Decline of the Ottoman Empire 1290–1808. Cambridge University Press, 1976. ISBN 978-0-521-21280-9.
• Turnbull, Stephen. The Ottoman Empire 1326–1699 (2003) 95 pp Questia.com⁠, online edition
• Wheatcroft, Andrew. The Ottomans. 384 pp.

Post 1830

• Ahmad, Feroz. The Young Turks: The Committee of Union and Progress in Turkish Politics, 1908–1914, (1969).
• Arnold, Guy. Historical Dictionary of the Crimean War. (2002). 179 pp.
• Berend, Tibor Iván, History derailed: Central and Eastern Europe in the long nineteenth century, University of California Press Ltd, 2003.
• Black, Cyril E., and L. Carl Brown. Modernization in the Middle East: The Ottoman Empire and Its Afro-Asian Successors. 1992.
• Cleveland, William L. "The Ottoman and Safavid Empires: A New Imperial Synthesis" in A History of the Modern Middle East. Westview Press, 2004. pp37–56. ISBN 0-8133-4048-9.
• Erickson, Edward J. Ordered to Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War (2000) Amazon.com⁠, excerpt and text search
• Faroqhi, Suraiya. Subjects of the Sultan: Culture and Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire. (2000) 358 pp.
• Findley, Carter. Bureaucratic Reform in the Ottoman Empire. 1980.
• Fortna, Benjamin C. Imperial Classroom: Islam, the State, and Education in the Late Ottoman Empire. (2002) 280 pp.
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Foreign language books

• Kitsikis, Dimitri. L'Empire ottoman, Presses Universitaires de France, 3rd ed., 1994. ISBN 2-13-043459-2
• Lafi (Nora), Une ville du Maghreb entre ancien régime et réformes ottomanes. Genèse des institutions municipales à Tripoli de Barbarie (1795–1911), Paris: L'Harmattan, 2002, 305 pp.
• Lafi (Nora), Municipalités méditerranéennes. Les réformes municipales ottomanes au miroir d'une histoire comparée, Berlin: K. Schwarz, 2005.

Notes

1. « Supply of Slaves Retrieved 8/29/2010.
2. « The rise and fall of the Caucasian race: a political history of racial identity Door Bruce David Baum Retrieved 8/29/2010.
3. « Islam and slavery: Sexual slavery Retrieved 8/29/2010.
4. « Welcome to Encyclopædia Britannica's Guide to Black History.
5. « Janissary
6. « Lewis. Race and Slavery in the Middle East
7. « The Turks: History and Culture
8. « In the Service of the State and Military Class
9. « "Horrible Traffic in Circassian Women—Infanticide in Turkey," New York Daily Times, August 6, 1856
10. « Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nda Kölelik
11. « Soldier Khan
12. « Historical survey > Slave societies
13. « When europeans were slaves: Research suggests white slavery was much more common than previously believed
14. « British Slaves on the Barbary Coast
15. « See generally Jay Winik (2007), The Great Upheaval.
16. « See Winik, supra.
17. « "Slavery in the Ottoman Empire".
18. « See also the seminal writing on the subject by Egyptian Ottoman Ahmad Shafiq Pasha, who wrote the highly influential book "L'Esclavage au Point de vue Musulman." ("Slavery from a Muslim Perspective").
19. « George Young, Corps de Droit Ottoman. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1905. Vol. II, pp. 166-206.
20. « Morgenthau Henry (1918) Ambassador Morgenthau's Story, Garden City, N.Y, Doubleday, Page & Co., chapter 8. Available
21. « Morgenthau Henry (1918) Ambassador Morgenthau's Story, Garden City, N.Y, Doubleday, Page & Co., chapter 24. Available
22. « Theottomans Harem Retrieved 8/29/2010
23. « Memri.org Palestinian Journalist and Intellectual Criticizes Hamas TV Reports of Mahdi's Birth & Prediction Of Conquest Of Rome Retrieved 8/29/2010