Ottoman Educational Institutions during the Reform Period IMPORTANT NOTICE: Author: Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu Chief Editor: Professor Salim Al-Hassani All rights, including copyright, in the content of this document are owned or controlled for these purposes by FSTC Limited. In Production: Faaiza Bashir accessing these web pages, you agree that you may only download the content for your own personal non-commercial use. You are not permitted to copy, broadcast, download, store (in any medium), transmit, show or play in public, adapt or Release Date: April 2004 change in any way the content of this document for any other purpose whatsoever without the prior written permission of FSTC Publication ID: 4057 Limited. Material may not be copied, reproduced, republished, Copyright: © FSTC Limited, 2003 2004 downloaded, posted, broadcast or transmitted in any way except for your own personal non-commercial home use. Any other use requires the prior written permission of FSTC Limited. 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FSTC Limited takes no responsibility for the consequences of error or for any loss or damage suffered by readers of any of the information published on any pages in this document, and such information does not form any basis of a contract with readers or users of it. FSTC Limited 9 Conyngham Road, Victoria Park, Manchester, M14 5DX, United Kingdom Web: http://www.fstc.co.uk Email: [email protected] Ottoman Educational Institutions during the Reform Period April 2004 OTTOMAN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS DURING THE REFORM PERIOD The Ottoman history witnessed a long period of change and reform, which started as of the eighteenth century and continued until the end of the Empire. One of the most important aspects of this period was the reform movement in the cultural and educational life. In our opinion it is necessary to evaluate with a new approach the process of development of institutionalisation, which has not been considered as a whole up until the present and that forms the basis of this movement, within its political, social and cultural context. This evaluation, which will be made, based on new information and documents, will provide us with the opportunity of setting forth the real paradigm of the Ottoman reform. The reform movement in the army that was initiated with enthusiasm and great interest was first of all to prevent the defeats on the battlefields and to regain the military superiority, which had been lost. This reform movement was later extended to include the civilian fields as well. In the process of modernization that was started at the same time in many fields within an extensive period of time, the traditional institutions also attempted to preserve their own existences and functions. This situation in the initial period paved the way for the old and new institutions being intermingled and for them assuming an intricate status. It is necessary to evaluate in the form of two different models this coexistence, which was connected to each other. We will attempt to study in this chapter how the modern educational institutions were established and developed. In the eighteenth century the technology in the weapons industry in Europe started to change even more rapidly. The adaptation of the Ottomans to this became comparatively more difficult than in the previous periods. The Ottomans, who compared the military forces of Europe with their own forces, felt the necessity of transferring with new methods the technology, which was different from those in the past in order to, re- establish the balances of power, which had been upset to their disadvantage. Naturally, a need was felt for the consultancy of European experts for applying this technology. In general, this need was met up until the 1770s with the experts who had entered into the Ottoman service by being converted to Islam. Furthermore, in this period the Ottoman administrators were purchasing gunpowder, weapons and warships for the navy by importing directly from Europe to meet their own needs for war materials. In other words, the dependence on the imports of products and materials for the transfer of technology increased in this period. In this period as well, a number of new applications were started with the thought of learning the new military techniques and for the gradual modernization of the Ottoman army. The Emergence of the Military Educational Institutions and Reform in Education The establishment of new institutions within the Ottoman military organization, inspired by similar ones in Europe and the new type of instruction applied at these institutions, paved the way for a slow, but gradually increasing change in the Ottoman scientific and educational life.i The first initiative on this subject was the Ulufeli Humbaraci Ocagi (Corps of Bombardiers) that was established at the beginning of 1735 i See Mustafa Kacar, Osmanli Devleti'nde Bilim ve Egitim Anlayisindaki Degismeler ve Mühendishânelerin Kurulusu, (Ph.D. thesis, Istanbul University, Faculty of Literature, Department of the History of Science), Istanbul, 1996 on the reform movements in the military field in the Ottoman Empire and on the situation of the schools of engineering up until 1808. Publication ID: [Document ID] Page 2 of 18 COPYRIGHT © FSTC Limited 2003, 2004 Ottoman Educational Institutions during the Reform Period April 2004 under the direction of Compte de Bonneval (Bombardier Ahmed Pasha) of French origin who assumed the name of Ahmed after he sought asylum in the Ottoman State in 1729 and became a Muslim. The Corps of Bombardiers was organized in a different manner from the similar corps in the Ottoman military organization, both from the military aspect and from the administrative aspect. At this corps, besides the practical instruction, theoretical lessons were taught such as geometry, trigonometry, ballistics and technical drawing with the objective of educating bombardiers.ii The Military Engineering Education The Hendesehâne (Mathematical School) was the first institution that was assigned separately for modern military technical education in the Ottoman Empire. The Hendesehâne, which was called the Ecole des Théories or the Ecoles des Mathématiques in French, was established at the Imperial Shipyard on 29 April 1775. Baron de Tott and another French expert besides the Ottoman teachers taught courses and this institution had up to ten students and later assumed the name of the Mühendishâne (School of Engineering). FIGURE 1- The New (Imperial) School of Engineering (Mühendishâne) established in 1793 by Sultan Selim III at the Cannonier’s Barracks. A great number of French experts and officers came to Istanbul between 1783 and 1788, with the renewed closeness between the Ottomans and France. All of the French experts and foremen left Istanbul as the ii See Mustafa Kacar, "Osmanli Imparatorlugunda Askeri Sahada Yenilesme Döneminin Baslangici", pp. 209-225, in Osmanli Bilimi Arastirmalari, ed. F. Günergun, Istanbul, 1995. Publication ID: [Document ID] Page 3 of 18 COPYRIGHT © FSTC Limited 2003, 2004 Ottoman Educational Institutions during the Reform Period April 2004 result of the alliance formed between Russia and France when the Ottomans entered into war against Russia between 1787-1788.iii It was observed that Ottoman foremen and workers and workers from other European states (some Swedes) were employed after the French departed. When all of the French experts and officers returned to their country between 1787 and 1788, the applied courses were discontinued and theoretical courses continued to be given by only the Ottoman scholars, such as Gelenbevî Ismâil Efendi and Palabiyik Mehmed Efendi, the famous mathematicians. Within the Nizâm-i Cedid (the New Order) movement, which was started in 1792, three years after Sultan Selim III (1789-1807) ascended the throne, the Mühendishâne-i Cedide (New School of Engineering) was established in 1793 with the objective of providing education for bombardiers, sappers and artillerymen. The classes at the new school of engineering started in 1794. The new generation Ottoman engineering teachers, such as Hoca Abdurrahman Efendi and Seyyid Osman Efendi, were instructors at the new school of engineering.iv Ten years earlier they had received courses in military engineering techniques from the French experts at the Shipyard School of Engineering. Additionally, there was Hüseyin Rifki Tamânî, who was later appointed to be the chief instructor at the Mühendishâne-i Berri-i Hümayun (Imperial School of Military Engineering) for artillery officers and army engineers. FIGURE 2 - The Naval Academy Building at Heybeli Island, in Istanbul. The organization of the New School of Engineering, just like the previous School of Engineering was composed of one teacher, four assistants, ten students and the other officials. Here the members of the iii Frédérik Hitzél, "Défense de la Place Turque d'Oczakow par un Officier du Génie Francaise (1787)", in Ikinci Tarih Boyunca Karadeniz Kongresi Bildirileri, ed. Mehmet Saglam (Samsun 1990), 639-655. iv K. Beydilli, Türk Bilim ve Matbaacilik Tarihinde Mühendishane, Mühendishane Matbaasi ve Kütüphanesi (1776-1826), (Istanbul, 1995), 33 -34. Publication ID: [Document ID] Page 4 of 18 COPYRIGHT © FSTC Limited 2003, 2004 Ottoman Educational Institutions during the Reform Period April 2004 bombardier and sapper corps were instructed on subjects such as geometry, trigonometry and measurement of elevations.