Ottoman Empire

Women travellers from Great Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Austria and America explored, visited, worked and resided in regions of the East that were considered “proper and safe for dynamic men only” (Smith, 1887). The mammoth body of writings by women travellers of the 18th and 19th centuries, that claim to be eyewitness descriptions of the female microcosmos, provide a rich and detailed interpretation of the Orient, including a feminine version, a female gaze.  European and American women identified with the so-called Other, expressed their solidarity and participated in Muslim women’s daily domestic life, customs, female social gatherings, religious celebrations and feasts. As a result, they accused male travellers- who had written about domestic manners in the East and the position of women in Islam of misinforming or misleading their readers, stressing that their accounts were based on second or third-hand information, their unrestrained imagination and exotic fantasies.

This study concerns itself with the first Imperial Envoy Gerard Veltwijck (ca. 1500—1555), who negotiated with the Ottoman Sultan Süleymān. Using newly discovered as well as recently published sources, it will focus on the part this diplomat of Charles V played in the negotiations with the Sublime Porte and on the considerable problems the French King and his representatives in Istanbul experienced during the talks. The Most Christian King thus became a victim of his ambivalent foreign policy while his alliance with the Sultan experienced a severe crisis. Finally, this study tries to demonstrate the impact of a diplomatic sojourn in the Levant for the envoy, as such a mission was very often followed by a considerable and far from only financial reward.

‘Based on exhaustive work in numerous archives and in several languages, Lorenzo Kamel has produced what I think is one of the most definitive works on the transition from empire to nation-state. It is impressively ambitious and does what many major historians have been promising to do: to show how hard, Western conceptions of identity shaped and formed the thinking and decisions of statesmen and other political elites in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It also deals with the penetration of hard national categories among the various peoples of the empire. It is an authoritative book and will be very widely consulted.’
NICHOLAS DOUMANIS
Author of Before the Nation and Professor, School of Humanities and Languages, The University of New South Wales – Sydney
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‘This book will make an important mark on the field. From Empire to Sealed Identities shows the ways in which ethnic and other divisions were historically constructed in the Middle East under the influence of imperial powers. The work combines meticulous archival research in multiple languages with careful analysis of broader trends to map the transition from empire to homogenized nation-states. This ability to document with rich detail and at the same time be able to present the larger picture with great clarity is rare. The author pulls off the feat with great erudition.’
BETH BARON
Distinguished Professor of History, The Graduate Center and City College, CUNY
Past President, Middle East Studies Association (MESA)
Director, Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center
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‘In this engaging revisionary study, Lorenzo Kamel shows how modern Western-ist intellectual prejudices have distorted our understanding of identity and conflict in the modern Middle East. Based on original archival research and an exhaustive survey of secondary literature, the author reveals a world that can only be characterized as “medieval” if one misunderstands the Middle Ages. Focussing on the long nineteenth century, the book provides a chronological continuation of much of the most interesting work being done in pre-modern Mediterranean Studies.’
BRIAN A. CATLOS
Author of Muslims of Latin Christendom and Professor, Faculty of Religious Studies, University of Colorado Boulder
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‘Lorenzo Kamel is a dedicated and meticulous scholar, extremely experienced and internationally recognized for his research methodology. His extensive archival work, which forms the basis of many of his most important publications, is impressive by any academic standard. His archival research, informed by exemplary linguistic skills, has, without question, created new understandings of the complex dynamics shaping our inquiry into modern European empires, and the history of the Middle East in the 19th and 20th centuries. The Middle East from Empire to Sealed Identities will continue this outstanding trend.’
SARA ROY
Senior Research Scholar, Harvard University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES)

Scopo dichiarato dell’ordine dei cavalieri di Santo Stefano, fondato nel 1561 da Cosimo I de’ Medici anche per motivi di legittimazione dinastica, fu la difesa della cristianità dalla minaccia ottomana. La politica aggressiva nei confronti dei Turchi, praticata attraverso la guerra di corsa e gli attacchi per mare alle piazzeforti ottomane in vari punti del Mediterraneo, praticata in modo ancora moderato da Cosimo e Francesco de’ Medici, venne ripresa con forza da Ferdinando I, che ne fece un fiore all’occhiello del Granducato nel confronto con le analoghe attività delle altre potenze europee, e poi soprattutto da suo figlio Cosimo II e suo nipote Ferdinando II. In coincidenza con i tre granduchi l’uso di strumenti di comunicazione e propaganda relativi alle imprese navali dei cavalieri, relativamente poco presente fino alla fine del Cinquecento, divenne un progetto sistematico che vide nella prima metà del Seicento la pubblicazione di numerose relazioni, la loro ristampa in altre città italiane, e la loro traduzione, ristampa, o ripresa anche in altre nazioni europee (soprattutto in Spagna), con il coinvolgimento nella veicolazione complessiva dei contenuti anche di intellettuali come il poeta Gabriello Chiabrera. Il saggio mette in rilievo il carattere sistematico della produzione di relazioni sulle imprese dei cavalieri di Santo Stefano contro i Turchi nel corso del Seicento, illuminandone gli aspetti produttivi e il successo editoriale, ed evidenziandone anche i rapporti con la produzione di tipo più letterario.

During the early modern era foodways were an important signifier of identity. This is evident in the extensive body of literature produced by the growing number of Europeans who ventured into the Mediterranean, especially the lands of the Ottoman Empire. These travelers commented at length on the foods they encountered, their preparation, and how they were consumed. They drew on widely known classical models, as well as their own familiar foodways, to produce culinary geographies that delineated stark boundaries between East and West, Islam and Christianity, and that inscribed alterity and barbarity onto Ottoman culture. Ottomans ate undercooked bread, adulterated with seeds and spices, and meat prepared in an unrefined fashion that was barely removed from its natural state. They consumed this food while seated on the ground and without the benefit of civilized utensils, and hypocritically washed it all down with large quantities of wine. In the early modern Mediterranean world who you were was defined, at least partly, by what you ate and how you ate it.

The monograph From Ambivalence to Hostility focuses on writings on Zionism published in the Arabic newspaper Filasṭīn (ʻPalestineʼ) in the pre-WWI period (1911–1914). It covers a broad range of subjects treated by the periodical including Jewish land purchases in and immigration to Palestine, violent incidents between the Jewish and the Arab communities, Zionist boycott and Zionist Congresses. The second chapter of the book offers a detailed analysis of the gradual yet profound transformation of Filasṭīnʼs editorial policy vis-à-vis Zionism before World War I.

The First of the Modern Ottomans blends biography with intellectual history. On the one hand, it is the story of an Ottoman life – the life of the scribe, ambassador, and prolific historian Ahmed Vâsıf (ca. 1735-1806), a man who improbably rose from obscurity in Baghdad to travel the empire, fight its wars, advise its sultans, and, in time, write its history. As a full-scale biography, the book is a rarity for the field of Ottoman history and reconstructs Vâsıf’s life, career, and opinions through meticulous research in both Ottoman and European sources. On the other hand, The First of the Modern Ottomans is also one of the first detailed intellectual studies of the early modern Ottoman Empire. Weaving together Vâsıf’s life and thought with the larger intellectual currents of the day – especially at the court of Sultan Selim III in Istanbul – it explores central debates among the Ottoman ruling elite over Europe, political reform, war and peace, justice, and the empire’s renewal. Vâsıf’s life reveals a vital response to the empire’s challenges at the turn of the nineteenth century – one that was novel and deeply enmeshed in Islamic philosophy, ethics, and statecraft.

Hz. Süleyman'ın krallığı vefatının akabinde İsrail ve Yahuda olarak ikiye ayrılmıştır. Önce İsrail'in
tarih sahnesinden çekilmesi ve ardından da Yahuda krallığının yıkılması sonucu, Yahudilerin bazıları
Mezopotamya bölgesine sürgün olarak gelmişlerdir. Nitekim Diyarbakır'daki Yahudiler de bu sürgünlerin
çocuklarıdır. Yüzlerce yıl burada yaşayan Yahudiler, 1948 yılında İsrail'in kuruluşuyla Diyarbakır'ı
tamamen terk etmişlerdir. Tanzimat sonrası Diyarbakır Yahudilerinin tarihi serüvenlerine bir girizgâh yapma
iddiasında olan bu makale, Diyarbakır Şehir tarihi ile Yahudi Tarihi araştırmalarına katkı sağlamayı
hedeflemektedir.

A REVIEW AT THE DIYARBAKIR JEWS DURING THE TANZIMAT ERA
(1839-1873)
ABSTRACT
The kingdom of the king-prophet Solomon was divided into two parts as Israel and Judah after his
death. With the collapse of these kingdoms a number Jews came and settled in the Mesopotamia. The origins
the Diyarbakir Jews goes back to this episode in history. The Jews who lived in Diyarbakır for hundreds of
years abandoned the city to move to the State of Israel in 1948. This short article aims to shed some new
lights on the Diyarbakır Jews during the Tanzimat Era and thus to contribute to the Jewish studies in general
and to the history of Diyarbakir city in particular.
Key Words: Mesopotamia, Diyarbakır, Jews, Tanzimat, Israel

The subject researched and discussed in this thesis hereby is the influence of Italian architecture (architects of Italian origin including Levantines) on Ottoman - Turkish (Muslim) architecture. It is aimed to follow-up the traces of this influence via the structures constructed as well as the architects. Muslims, certainly, were in contact with Christian architecture also previously. "Crusaders", who invaded regions in the Muslim geography including Jerusalem, founded states and constructed numerous structures 300 - 400 years ago. However, subsequent to 1453 following the conquest of Istanbul by Ottomans, the most important Muslim state of the era, two civilizations (Christian civilization and Muslim Ottoman civilization) began to have a much closer contact. Destructiveness during the first years of the conquest ended and different architectural styles emerged in a peaceful environment and they influenced each other. This interaction did not only include the emergence of structures of the Christian world and structures of Muslim Turks side by side. Even mosques, the most important structures of the Muslim architecture, adopted and internalized construction features of the Christian architectural movements. In this thesis, it is focused both on determining the independent structures built completely in western styles by the Italian architects as well as identifying the signs of Italian influence on the Muslim architecture. As is known, Istanbul was ruled through the Greeks from Megara followed by the Byzantine and Roman periods. As such, Istanbul already had Christian (actually Italian due to the presence of the Rome, Venice, Genoa, Florence city-states) architecture. Accordingly, Ottomans would inevitably be influenced through the traces of previous civilizations. And they were. But the influence had gone far beyond this. The influence was not limited to include the architectural features of the old buildings to the knowledge of the Turkish Ottoman architects but especially Istanbul, the capital, was opened again to the works of Western architects, including mainly Italians. As a result of this, a very profound influence source was established. How and to what extent did this interaction flow? In which structural elements are they reflected? I aimed to reveal these issues by showing the respect of a novice in scientific research striving to remain humble in my thesis.

A 2017 Choice Outstanding Academic Title

In this volume, Elisabeth Fraser shows that artists and the works they created in the Mediterranean during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were informed by mutual dependence and reciprocity between European nations and the Ottoman Empire. Her rich exploration of this vibrant cross-cultural exchange challenges the dominant interpretation of European relations with the East during the period, revealing a shared world of fluid and long-sustained interactions.

Voyagers to and from the Ottoman Empire documented their journeys in prints, paintings, and lavishly illustrated travelogues; many of these helped define Europe’s self-identified role as heir to Ottoman civilizations and bolstered its presence in the Islamic Mediterranean and beyond. Fraser finds that these works illuminate not only how travelers’ experiences abroad were more nuanced than the expansionist ideology with which they became associated, but also how these narratives depicted the vitality of Ottoman culture and served as extensions of Ottoman diplomacy. Ottomans were aware of and responded to European representations, using them to defend Ottoman culture and sovereignty. In embracing the art of both cultures and setting these works in a broader context, Fraser challenges the dominant historiographical tradition that sees Ottoman artists adopting European modes of art in a one-sided process of “Europeanization.”

Theoretically informed and rigorously researched, this cross-cultural approach to European and Ottoman art sheds much-needed critical light on the widely disseminated travel images of the era—important cultural artifacts in their own right—and provides a fresh and inviting understanding of the relationships among cultures in the Mediterranean during an era of increasing European expansionism.
ISBN: 978-0-271-07320-0

Contents:

Part I: Power in Question

- Chapter 1 Reading Choiseul in the Gaps of the Orientalist Archive

- Chapter 2 In the Shadow of les Grands: Cassas’s Orientalist Self-Fashioning

Part II: Ottoman Culture Abroad

- Chapter 3 The Translator’s Art: Mouradgea d’Ohsson, Ottoman Dragoman in Paris

- Chapter 4 Miniatures in Black and White: Melling’s Istanbul

Part III: Contradictory Contact

- Chapter 5 Skin of Nation, Body of Empire: Louis Dupré in Ottoman Greece

- Chapter 6 A Painter’s Renunciation: Delacroix in North Africa

Tarihsel derinlikleriyle Türkiye’de ayrı bir konumu bulunan KOBİ’lerin kurumsal geçmişi Ahiliğe, fütüvvetnamelere, loncalara kadar uzanıyor. Türkiye’nin dünü -ister gezici olsun, ister çarşıda ya da mahallede dükkan açmış bulunsun- esnaf, sanatkar, küçük ve orta ölçekte tacirin ağırlığını koyduğu bir ekonomik yapıdan güç alıyor. Küçük ve orta büyüklükteki işletmelerin (KOBİ) istihdam, yenilik ve genel ekonomik dinamizme sağladığı katkı, artık tartışma götürmez bir gerçek. Ülkemizde KOBİ’lerin toplam kredilerden aldığı pay son derece düşük. Bu oran Japonya’da %50, Güney Kore’de %47, ABD’de %43 iken, Türkiye’de yalnızca %5. Farklılaşan ve sürekli değişen ihtiyaçlar, esnek ve dinamik bir üretimi gerekli kılıyor. Bu ise optimum üretim ölçeği küçültülmüş, yönetim ve denetim işlevleri etkinleştirilmiş, pazara uyum yeteneği artırılmış KOBİ’lerle mümkün olabiliyor.

Cihan Harbi Avrupa’yı karanlık bir evreye sokuyor, 19. yüzyılın refah ortamını sonlandırırken kararsızlıklarla dolu bir dönemi başlatıyordu. Türkiye insanının bu gelişmelerden etkilenmemesi düşünülemezdi. Üstelik Cumhuriyet Türkiyesi  hilafeti ve saltanatı kaldırmış, Batı’ya yönelmiş, “yeni hayat” özlemiyle yaşam tarzında köklü dönüşümlere gitmişti. Reform kaygıları, seküler yaşam özlemi, Osmanlı kültür kodlarının sorgulanışı, nesiller arası uyumsuzluklar yoksul ülkenin insanlarını her geçen gün çözümsüzlüğe yöneltmişti. 30’lu yıllarda “ideal”lerle donatılmış kendi “yeni insan”ına ulaşıncaya kadar Türkiye inkılaplarla toplumsal travmayı birlikte yaşayacaktı. Jön Türklerin İkinci Meşrutiyet yıllarına özgü sosyoloji tutkularının yerini bu kez Cumhuriyet’le birlikte psikoloji ve psikiyatri alıyordu. Durkheim’in pabucu dama atılmış, Freud’a ve Bergson’a umut bağlanmıştı. 
Türkiye’de Yeni Hayat 1908-1928 çağdaş yaşam özleminin toplumsal travmaya dönüşümünün öyküsü. Nüfus sorunu başta olmak üzere, kadının, gençliğin, çocuğun erkek Cumhuriyet döneminde karşılaştıkları sorunları ele alan Zafer Toprak uzun savaş yıllarının neden olduğu bunalımı, yoksulluğun neden olduğu fuhuşu,  intiharlarla sonuçlanan umutsuzluğu dönemin kaynaklarına başvurarak gün ışığına çıkarıyor.

Osmanlı Devleti’nin askeri ve idari düzlemde başlayan modernleşme serüveni, toplumsal yaşamda yeni anlayışlar şekillendirdiği gibi yeni alışkanlıkların ve beğenilerin gelişmesine de yol açmıştır. Batı modeline göre yapılandırılmış eğitim kurumlarının birbiri ardına açıldığı bu süreçte, özellikle Tanzimat Fermanı’nın ilanıyla beraber, eğitimi topluma yayma fikri öne çıkmıştır. Batı sanatı ise yapılan ıslahatların getirdiği kültürel açılımla yayılım göstermiş, önce Saray’da ardından da İstanbul’un sosyal yaşamında görünürlük kazanmıştır. Sempozyumda sunulacak olan bildiri, 18. yüzyıl sonunda eğitim programlarına girmeye başlayan resim derslerini ve II. Abdülhamid devrinde (1876-1909) resim eğitiminin kurumsallaşması adına büyük bir atılım olan Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi’ni konu almaktadır. III. Selim’in (1761-1808) başlattığı Batılılaşma programının kapsamını genişleten II. Mahmud’dan (1785-1839) sonra, bilhassa Tanzimat Fermanı’nın ilanıyla beraber Avrupalıların ülkedeki tesiri artmıştır. Kültür ve fikir ortamı da bu izlekte bir dönüşüm geçirmektedir. Mühendishâne-i Bahrî-i Hümâyun, Mühendishâne-i Berrî-i Hümâyun, Mekteb-i Harbiye, Mekteb-i Tıbbiyye, Dârüşşafaka Mektebi, Mekteb-i Sultani ve Mekteb-i Osmani’nin eğitim programlarına resim derslerini dahil etmeleri, bu okullardan yetişen kişilerin resim sanatıyla bağlantı kurmalarını sağlamıştır. Keza bahsi geçen okullardan yetişen bir kesim, “Asker Ressamlar” olarak Türk Resim Tarihi’ne geçeceklerdir. Abdülaziz döneminde (1861-1876) Pierre-Désiré Guillemet’nin (1827-1878) öncü olduğu sanat odaklı eğitim veren bir akademi kurma girişimi, II. Abdülhamid döneminde hayata geçirilebilmiş ve 1883 yılında Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi açılmıştır. Osmanlı toplumundan yerli ressamların yetişmesinde büyük bir adım olan bu hadiseden sonra resim sergilerinin sayısı çoğalmış ve yerli ressamların görünürlüğü artmıştır. Neticede resim derslerinin müfredata girmesi ve sanat eğitiminin Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi aracılığıyla kurumsallaştırılması, sanatla uygulayıcı olarak ilgilenen bir kesimin yetişmesine sebep olduğu gibi toplum nezdinde de resim sanatının tanınırlığını arttırmıştır.
Yukarıda değinilen hususlar, bildiride detaylandırılarak incelenecek; Osmanlı Devleti’nin Batılılaşma sürecinde açılan eğitim kurumlarındaki resim derslerine ve söz konusu eğitimden geçerek resimle uygulayıcı olarak ilgilenme imkânı bulan önemli figürlere dair genel bir bakış geliştirilmeye çalışılacaktır.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Osmanlı Devleti, Resim Eğitimi, Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi, Batılılaşma.

The modernization adventure of the Ottoman Empire, which started at the military and administrative level, shaped new approaches in social life and developed new habits and tastes in society. The idea of spreading the education to the people became prominent especially with the declaration of the Tanzimat Edict. Thus, the educational institutions were opened one after another and structured according to the Western model. Western art has spread with the cultural developments caused by the reforms and became visible first in the Palace and then in the social life of Istanbul. This paper, which will be presented at the symposium, focuses on the painting lessons that included in the curriculums by the end of the 18th century and Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi which was a great breakthrough in the institutionalization of painting education during the reign of Abdulhamid II (1876-1909). The European influence in the Ottoman Empire increased especially with the declaration of Tanzimat Edict after Mahmud II (1785-1839), who expanded the scope of the Westernization program initiated by Selim III (1761-1808). The cultural and intellectual environment was also transforming in the same path. The students interacted with art when Mühendishâne-i Bahrî-i Hümâyun, Mühendishâne-i Berrî-i Hümâyun, Mekteb-i Harbiye, Mekteb-i Tıbbiyye, Dârüşşafaka Mektebi, Mekteb-i Sultani and Mekteb-i Osmani were included the art courses in their academic programs. Likewise, a group of people educated in these schools will be referred as “Soldier Painters” in the Turkish Painting History. During the reign of Abdulaziz (1861-1876) Pierre-Désiré Guillemet (1827-1878) attempted to establish an art academy. It was implemented during the Abdulhamid II’s reign when Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi was opened in 1883. After this big step that raised the local painters from Ottoman society, number of the painting exhibitions have increased and local painters became more visible. Eventually, the inclusion of painting courses into the curriculums and the institutionalization of art education through Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi has increased the recognition of the painting and raised the local painters.
The issues mentioned above will be examined in detail in the paper; a general outlook on painting lessons in the schools opened during the Westernization process of the Ottoman Empire and the important figures that have had the opportunity to be interested in painting as a practitioner will be revealed.

Keywords: Osmanlı Empire, Art Education, Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi, Westernization.

ÖZET
Bu tez çalışmasında, Sultan 2.Abdülhamid dönemi İstanbul’unda Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’nin sefir olarak vazifelendirdiği Samuel Cox’un gözlem ve anıları paylaşılmış olup dönemin Osmanlı-Amerikan ilişkileri ele alınmıştır. İki ana bölümden ve sonuç kısmından oluşan tezin birinci bölümünde Sultan Abdülhamid ile Samuel Cox’un ilişki biçimine odaklanılmış ve bu bağlamda dönemsel bir portre çizilip konuya altyapı oluşturulmaya çalışılmıştır. Ayrıca elçinin Osmanlı topraklarındaki görevi süresince sultanla olan birebir ilişkisi, Osmanlı toplumu hakkındaki düşünceleri ve o günün yaşamıyla alakalı fikri yapısı ortaya konmuştur. İkinci bölümde ise genel bir anlatımla 19.yüzyıl Osmanlı Amerikan ilişkilerindeki önemli adımlar ele alınmış ve iki devlet ilişkilerinin özellikle Sultan Abdülhamid dönemindeki durumu incelenmiştir. İkili ilişkilerdeki diplomatik yapılar ve özellikle elçi Cox’un etkisine de bu kısımda değinilmiştir. Sonuç kısmında ise Türk-Amerikan ilişkilerine ve Samuel Cox’a dair özet çıkarımlara yer verilmiştir.

As a sophisticated intellectual, one of the least known aspects of İbrahim Müteferrika, the founder of Turkish printing press, is his service as a diplomat. İbrahim Müteferrika went to Poland and undertook negotiations during a time when the Ottoman Empire was fighting against Austria and Russia. However, hitherto we have not had much information about this particular diplomatic mission. In this article, we will examine his embassy to Poland between December 1736 and February 1737 under the light of contemporaneous historical sources and archival documents, through his ambassadorial account dedicated to this mission which we have recently discovered.

The paper focuses upon the Ottoman registers, constituting significant part of the fond of Belogradchik, of Berkovitsa,
of Kula, of Lom, of Oryahovo, of Vidin and of Vratsa. All they are kept at the Oriental Department of the
Bulgarian National Library. The registers cast light on the demography and the economics of the settlements in the
Vidin district. Some registers provide information on the Circassian and Crimean refugees, on the Bulgarians who
emigrated to Russia and then returned to their villages in the Ottoman Empire and on the Gypsies of the Vidin region.
All these registers were prepared according to the laws and the instructions issued by the Sublime Porte. There
are many villages mentioned only in one register and the available data about them do not serve to trace any economic
tendency. The simultaneous study of the property, tithe, sheep and goat registers significantly facilitates the detayled
research on the economic characteristics of the settlement. The analyzed information helps determine the varying
individual positions of the local people at the “poverty-wealth” colleration. Besides, the everyday life of the local
people is to be compared with this in the villages of the same ecological environment, but administratively attached to
the neighbouring small district. That is why, the quickly obtaining of the registers, primary sources of multiple data,
is of immense importance.
In order to ease the detailed and correct research of the local history, to provide the quickly access to the documents
and to bring to light the archival sources inherited from the Ottomans, my paper summaries the registers,
offering information about the different settlements, in 7 appendixes.