Modernization, Science and Engineering in the Early Nineteenth Century Ottoman Empire

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Notes

1. For studies on Ottoman modernization see, R. H. Davison, Reform in the Ottoman Empire 1856–1876 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1963); B. Lewis, The Emergence of Modern Turkey (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002); N. Berkes, The Development of Secularism in Turkey, 2nd edn (London: Hurst & Co., 1998); Ş. Mardin, The Genesis of Young Ottoman Thought: A Study in the Modernization of Turkish Political Idea, 2nd edn (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2000). For a revisionist approach, see E.J. Zürcher, Turkey: A Modern History, 3rd edn (London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2004).

2. For a recent reevaluation of reform literature of the period in question, see K. Beydilli, ‘Küçük Kaynarca’dan Tanzimât'a Islâhât Düşünceleri'İlmî Araştımalar,No.8 (1999), pp. 25–64.

3. There is ample literature on science in Ottoman Turkish history. For a representative sample see, A. Adıvar, La science chez les Turcs ottomans(Paris: G.-P. Maisonneuve, 1939); Transfer of Modern Science & Technology to the Muslim World. E: İhsanoğlu (ed.) (İstanbul: IRCICA, 1992); S. H. Bolay, Türkiye'de Ruhcu ve Maddeci Görüşün Mücadelesi,4^th edn (Ankara: Akçağ Yayınları, 1995); M. Akgün, Materyalizmin Türkiye'ye Girişi ve İlk Etkileri (İstanbul: İnsan Yayınları, 1986); M. Korlaelçi, Pozitivizmin Türkiye'ye Girişi ve İlk Etkileri, 2^nd edn (İstanbul; Hece Yayınları, 2002); M. Ş. Hanioğlu, The Young Turks in Opposition (New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995); M. Ş. Hanioğlu, Preparation for A Revolution: The Young Turks 1902–1908(New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001); M. Ş. Hanioğlu,‘Blueprints ForA Future Society: Late Ottoman Materialists on Science, Religion and Art’, in E. Özdalga (ed.), Late Ottoman Society: The Intellectual Legacy (Routledge: Curzon, 2004), pp. 26–119; B. Burçak, ‘Science, A Remedy for All Ills, Healing the Sick Man of Europe”: A Case for Ottoman Scientism’,(Ph.D. Thesis, Princeton University, 2005).

4. On the engineering schools, see Ç. Uluçay and E. Karatekin, Yüksek Mühendis Okulu (Istanbul: Berksoy and Matbaası, 1958); K. Beydilli, Türk Bilim ve Matbaacılık Tarihinde Mühendishâne, Mühendishâne Matbaası ve Kütüphanesi 1776–1806 (Istanbul: Eren Yayınları, 1995); M. Kaçar, ‘Osmanlı Devleti’nde Bilim ve Eğitim Anlayışında Değişmeler ve Mühendishanelerin Kuruluşu’ (P.D. Thesis, Istanbul University, 1996).

5. Diatribe de L'ingénieur Séid Moustapha sur l'état actuel de l'art militaire, du génie et des sciences à Constantinople(The Diatribe of Engineer Seyyid Mustafa on the Present State of the Military Arts, Engineering and Sciences in Constantinople) (İstanbul: Üsküdar Matbaası, 1803) in K. Beydilli, ‘İlk Mühendislerimizden Seyyid Mustafa ve Nizâm-ı Cedîd'e Dair Risâlesi’, İstanbul Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Tarih Enstitüsü Dergisi,No.13 (İstanbul: Edebiyat Fakültesi Basımevi, 1987), pp.387–479. See also, Sütlüce Matematik Okulu Oğretim Üyesi, Mühendis Seyyid Mustafa, İstanbul'da Askerlik Sanatı, Yeteneklerin ve Bilimlerin Durumu Üzerine Risale(İstanbul: Tüyap, 1986).

6. K. Beydilli, ‘İlk Mühendislerimizden Seyyid Mustafa ve Nizâm-ı Cedîd'e Dair Risâlesi’, İstanbul Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Tarih Enstitüsü Dergisi,No.13 (İstanbul: Edebiyat Fakültesi Basımevi, 1987), pp. 387–479.

7. Diatribe, p. 10.

8. For a classic treatment on the Nizam-ı Cedid see, S. Shaw, Between Old and New: The Ottoman Empire under Sultan Selim III, 1789–1807 (Cambridge, M.A.: Harvard University Press, 1971). See also, C.E. Bosworth, ‘Nizâm-ı Djedid’, EI ², VIII, pp. 75–76 and V. Aksan, ‘Selim III’, EI ², IX, pp. 132–134.

9. On his remarks on my ‘Science, A Remedy for All Ills, Healing the Sick Man of Europe”, see K. Şakul, ‘Nizâm-ı Cedid Düşüncesinde Batılılaşma ve İslami Modernleşme.’Dîvân: İlmî Araştırmalarno.19, (2005/2), pp. 128–129.

10. See Şakul, ‘‘ Nizâm-ı Cedid Düşüncesinde Batılılaşma ve İslami Modernleşme.’

11. Beydilli, ‘İlk Mühendislerimizden Seyyid Mustafa'.

12. The miftah ağası, literally meaning the ‘ağa of keys' was one of the five ağas of the Hass Oda (Privy Chamber), and was responsible for Sultan's keys. This office was abolished in 1833. See M.Z. Pakalın, Osmanlı Tarih Deyimleri ve Terimleri Sözlüğü II (Istanbul: Milli Eğitim Basımevi, 1951).

13. Beydilli, ‘İlk Mühendislerimizden Seyyid Mustafa, p.415.

14. Diatribe, p.6.

15. Ibid., p.16.

16. Ibid., p.11.

17. Ibid., p.2.

18. Ibid., p.3.

19. Ibid., pp.2–3.

20. Ibid., p.5.

21. Ibid., p.4.

22. Ibid., p.14.

23. Ibid., pp.6–7.

24. See S.A. Somel, The Modernization of Public Education in the Ottoman Empire, 1839–1908: Islamization, Autocracy and Discipline (Leiden, Boston and Köln: Brill, 2001).

25. Ibid., pp.18–19. For information on Quran schools and medreses see O.N. Ergin, İstanbul Mektebleri ve İlim, Terbiye ve Sanat Müesseseleri Dolayısiyle Türkiye Mâarif Tarih, Vol.1–2, 2nd edn (Istanbul: Eser Kültür, 1977), and C. Baltacı, ‘Osmanlı Eğitim Sistemi’, Yeni Türkiye, Special Issue: Eğitim, No.7 (Jan.–Feb. 1996), pp.467–70.

26. Diatribe, p.7.

27. Ibid., p.8.

28. H. Kaynar, ‘Sosyal İktidar ve Şehir: 19. Yüzyıl OsmanlıŞehirlerindeki Mekansal Değişimler Üzerine’, Kebikeç, No.10 (2000), p.146.

29. This term was used by Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu.

30. Diatribe, p.4.

31. Ibid., p.12.

32. Ibid., p.15.

33. Ibid., p.16.

34. Ibid., p.18.

35. Ibid., p.20.

36. On the concept of bidat see, J. Robson, ‘Bid ‘a’, EI ², I, p.1199.

37. Sunan Abu-Dawud, Vol.4 (Hums: Muhammad Ali al-Sayyid, 1969), p.44.

38. U. Heyd, ‘The Ottoman ‘Ulemā and Westernization in the Time of Selīm III and Mahmūd II’, Scripta Hierosolymitana, No.9 (1961), p.64.

39. Ibid., p.74.

40. H. İnalcık, ‘Some Remarks on the Ottoman Turkey's Modernization Process', in İhsanoğlu (ed.), Transfer of Modern Science and Technology to the Muslim World, p.52.

41. Quran, 9:36. Translated by Ahmed Ali (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988).

42. Quran, 8:60.

43. Heyd, ‘The Ottoman ‘Ulemā’, p.74.

44. Ibid., p.69.

45. Somel, The Modernization of Public Education, p.22.

46. Diatribe, p.33.