Tanzimat

the name by which the reforms in the Ottoman Empire in the period from 1839 to the early 1870’s are known; in addition, the name by which the period itself is known.

The Tanzimat stemmed from several factors. Ottoman feudal society was in the midst of crisis. In the first third of the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire had experienced a number of social and economic shifts. The oppressed peoples of southeastern Europe were intensifying their struggle for national liberation. The European powers were engaged in a growing rivalry in the Balkans and the Near East. Finally, the Ottoman Empire was threatened by further collapse from within.

The Hatt-i Şerif (“illustrious rescript”), the sultan’s edict proclaimed in the palace gardens of Gülhane on Nov. 3, 1839, marked the beginning of the first stage of the Tanzimat. The reform program of Gülhane, drawn up by Reşid Paşa (Reshid Pasha), the minister of foreign affairs, inspired a series of measures, including penal and commercial codes, laws on the abolition of the farming of taxes (the ushar), and a law on the founding of secular schools. The result was, in part, better administration and government, an improved judicial system, and the growth of secular education. Nevertheless, resistance on the part of the feudal reaction prevented the consistent and thoroughgoing implementation of the most essential promise made in the Giilhane edict—namely, guarantee of the security of life, honor, and property of all the sultan’s subjects. Reaction also hindered the implementation of some other reforms.

The Hatt-i Hümayun (“imperial rescript”), the sultan’s edict of Feb. 18, 1856, adopted under the presssure of the Western powers, which were at the time meeting at the peace conference in Paris, marked the beginning of the second stage of the Tanzimat. The reforms introduced in 1856 and thereafter represented a continuation of the Giilhane reforms. At the same time, they provided for innovations, which met primarily the interests of foreign capital and the non-Turkish comprador bourgeoisie. Foreigners received a series of privileges, including the right to own land, the right to establish foreign banks, and concessions for railroad construction, mining operations, and port and municipal facilities.

The Tanzimat as a whole contributed to a certain acceleration of Turkey’s economic development, to the growth of the Turkish national bourgeoisie, to the opening of a path for the bourgeois development of Turkey, to the growth of science and literature, and to the formation of a Turkish intelligentsia.