THE URBAN NETWORK OF RÜŞDIYYES IN THE BALKANS AND IN ANATOLIA IN THE 1840S – 1870S
Études balkaniques (Sofia) 2022 N 3
Margarita DOBREVA
Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Bulgaria
Abstract: Following the establishment of the first rüşdiyyes in Istanbul in 1847, the Council of Education launched an active policy of spreading their network in the entire territory of the Ottoman Empire. Exploring the process, the article pays attention to the edifices that housed them and the attempts to coeducate Muslims and Non-Muslims. Although its initial endeavors failed, the Council of Education did not hesitate and took every opportunity to promote the rüşdiyyes. The growth of the network was influenced by positive and negative factors, natural disasters and political events. The most important problem that slowed down its development was the difficulty to provide quickly an adequate building. Nevertheless, by January 1876 there was a rüşdiyye in almost two-thirds of all Ottoman administrative centres. Nowadays many of the rüşdiyye edifices have been demolished while modernizing the urban environment. The article is based on documents and newspapers kept in the Sts Cyril and Methodius National Library of Bulgaria, the Istanbul Ottoman Archive, the Library of the Turkish Historical Society, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Taksim Atatürk Library, and the Library of the Turkiye Diyanet Foundation Centre for Islamic Studies.
Keywords: Tanzimat, education, rüşdiyyes, Muslims, Non-Muslims
LA FRANCE DANS LES PAGES DE LA REVUE OTTOMANE MECMUA-I FÜNÜN (REVUE SCIENTIFIQUE) DE JUIN 1862 À JUIN 1867
Études balkaniques (Sofia) 2023, N 4
Margarita DOBREVA
Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Bulgaria
France on the Pages of the Ottoman Mecmua-i Fünun (Journal of Sciences), June 1862 – June 1867
Abstract: A sign of the Ottoman scientific and cultural progress in the Tanzimat years, the journal Mecmua-i Fünun (Journal of Sciences/ Revue scientifique) was published in June 1862 – June 1867 by Cemiyet-i İlmiye-i Osmaniye (Ottoman Society of Science/ Société scientifique ottomane) and offered articles of manifold topics. Some of them were based on the masterpieces of French theologians, philosophers and doctors. Others presented the speeches delivered by French politicians and monarchs. The journal paid attention to the French revolution, Napoléon Bonaparte, the International Universal Exposition and to the construction of the Suez Canal. Many of the notes on France were short news about its development. In fact, all presented French masterpieces discussed universal values and virtues, promoted centuries long by Islam and Christianity. They inspired the audience with religious devotion and love to the country, with obedience to the monarch and laws, expansion of welfare, brotherhood of man and thankfulness, with continuous efforts towards technical headway and ethic maturity. However, even presented in Mecmua-i Fünun, France and its ideas did not set the journal’s tone, that was mainly consistent with the official state policy. The article is based on all 47 journal issues, available on the digital library of the Türk Tarih Kurumu (Turkish Historical Society/ Société d’histoire turque) in Ankara.
Keywords: France, Mecmua-i Fünun, universal values and virtues, education, the Ottoman press