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Foreigners and Municipal Reform in Istanbul: 1855–1865

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Steven Rosenthal
Steven Rosenthal
Affiliation:
University of HartfordWest Hartford, CT.
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Extract

Ever since it had been recognized that the decay of the Ottoman Empire could not be arrested by traditional methods, foreigners and non-Muslims had played a significant part in the Empire's modernization. The Compte de Bonneval and Baron de Tott were only the most famous of a group of foreign advisers who were employed by the Ottoman government to help reform the military establishment during the eighteenth century. During the Tanzimat era, 1839–1876, when the Porte became irrevocably committed to modernization, foreigners and non-Muslims were employed in a multitude of capacities. They ranged from the Prussian Von Moltke who was to advise on the vital problem of reorganizing the army, to Giuseppe Donnizetti, brother of the composer, who was charged with the somewhat less important task of organizing a Western-style military band.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , April 1980 , pp. 227 - 245
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

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References

NOTES

1 An 1882 census conducted by the Ottoman government showed that of Istanbul's population of 875,000, fully 237,293 were inhabitants of Galata. Almost half, or 111,545, were listed as foreign subjects, most of whom were not European expatriots but native Ottomans who had obtained embassy protection. In addition, 17,589 Greeks, 29,559 Armenians, and 22,865 Jews not enjoying diplomatic protection lived within the district. The muslim population of Galata was thus only between one-fifth and one-fourth of the total. Although this census was taken almost two decades after the developments studied in this article, the numbers and proportions are at least approximate for the earlier period. The great fire of 1870 inhibited the growth of the district and population estimates for the period under discussion are consistent with the 1882 census. (This document can be found in the Istanbul University Library as “Dar as Saadat ye Bilad-i Selese Nufus Sayimi” evrak #89946. I would like to thank Professor Stanford Shaw who kindly called this document to my attention.)Google Scholar

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