Abdülaziz

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Osmanli-nisani.svg    Abdülaziz
Ottoman Sultan
Caliph
Tughra of Abdülaziz.JPG
Reign 1861–76
Period Decline of the Ottoman Empire
Full Name Abdülaziz
Predecessor Abdülmecid I
Successor Murad V
Royal House House of Osman
Dynasty Ottoman Dynasty

Abdülaziz I or Abd Al-Aziz, His Imperial Majesty (Ottoman Turkish: `Abdü´l-Âzīz-i evvel عبد العزيز) (February 9/18 1830  – 4 June 1876) was the 32nd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and reigned between 25 June 1861 and 30 May 1876. He was the son of Sultan Mahmud II and succeeded his brother Abdülmecid I in 1861.[1]

Born at the Eyüp Palace, Constantinople,[2][3] on 9/18 February 1830, Abdülaziz received an Ottoman education but was nevertheless an ardent admirer of the material progress that was made in the West. He was interested in literature and was also a classical music composer. Some of his compositions have been collected in the album "European Music at the Ottoman Court" by the London Academy of Ottoman Court Music.

Contents

[edit] Family

His parents were Mahmud II and Valide Sultan Pertevniyal ("Partav-Nihal").[4] (1812–1883), originally named Bezime.[5] In 1868 Pertevniyal was living in the Dolmabahçe Palace. That year Abdülaziz led the visiting Eugénie de Montijo, Empress of France, to see his mother. Pertevniyal perceived the presence of a foreign woman within her quarters of the seraglio as an insult. She reportedly slapped Eugénie across the face, almost resulting in an international incident.[6] The Pertevniyal Valide Sultan Mosque was built under the patronage of his mother. The construction work began in November 1869 and the mosque was finished in 1871.[7]

His paternal grandparents were Sultan Abdul Hamid I and Sultana Naksh-i-Dil Haseki. Several accounts identify his paternal grandmother with Aimée du Buc de Rivéry, a cousin of Joséphine de Beauharnais.[8] Pertevniyal was a sister of Hoshiar (Khushiyar), third wife of Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt. Hoshiar and Ibrahim were the parents of Isma'il Pasha.[9][10][11][12][13]

[edit] Reign

Punch cartoon commenting on the 1867 visit of the Sultan to Britain.
The mausoleum (türbe) of Sultan Abdülaziz, located at Divan Yolu street.

Between 1861 and 1871, the Tanzimat reforms which began during the reign of his brother Abdülmecid were continued under the leadership of his chief ministers, Keçecizade Mehmet Fuat Pasha and Mehmed Emin Aali Pasha. New administrative districts (vilayets) were set up in 1864 and a Council of State was established in 1868. Public education was organized on the French model and Istanbul University was reorganized as a modern institution in 1861.

Abdülaziz cultivated good relations with the Second French Empire and the British. In 1867 he was the first Ottoman sultan to visit Western Europe; his trip included a visit to England, where he was made a Knight of the Garter by Queen Victoria and shown a Royal Navy Fleet Review with Ismail of Egypt. He travelled by a private rail car, which today can be found in the Rahmi M. Koç Museum in Istanbul. His fellow Knights of the Garter created in 1867 were Charles Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of Richmond, Charles Manners, 6th Duke of Rutland, Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, Franz Joseph I of Austria and Alexander II of Russia.

Culverin with the arms of Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, Siege of Rhodes (1522). Caliber: 140mm, length: 339cm, weight: 2533kg, ammunition: 10kg iron ball. Remitted by Abdülaziz to Napoleon III in 1862.

In 1869, Abdülaziz received visits from Eugénie de Montijo, Empress consort of Napoleon III of France and other foreign monarchs on their way to the opening of the Suez Canal. The Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII of the United Kingdom, twice visited Constantinople.

By 1871 both ʿAlī Pasha and Fuʿād Pasha were dead. The Second French Empire, his Western European model, had been defeated in the Franco-Prussian War by the North German Confederation under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia. In foreign policy, Abdülaziz turned to the Russian Empire for friendship, as turmoil in the Balkan provinces continued. In 1875, the Herzegovinian rebellion was the beginning of further unrest in the Balkan provinces. In 1876, the April Uprising saw insurrection spreading among the Bulgarians. Ill feeling mounted against Russia for its encouragement of the rebellions.

The crop failure of 1873, the sultan's lavish expenditures for the Ottoman Navy and the new palaces which he built, and the mounting public debt also heightened public discontent. Abdülaziz was deposed by his ministers on 30 May 1876; his death at Feriye Palace in Constantinople a few days later was attributed to suicide at the time,[14] although he may have been assassinated by the order of Huseyin Avni and Mithat Pasha.[citation needed] He was buried in Istanbul.

[edit] Achievements

The biggest achievement of Abdülaziz was to modernize the Ottoman Navy. In 1875, the Navy had 21 battleships and 173 warships of other types, ranking as the third largest navy in the world after the British and French navies.

He established the first Ottoman railroad network and Sirkeci Train Station in Constantinople, terminus of the Orient Express.

Impressed by the museums in London, Paris and Vienna, he established the Istanbul Archaeology Museum.

Under Abdülaziz's reign, Turkey's first postage stamps were issued in 1863, and Turkey joined the Universal Postal Union in 1875 as a founding member.

He was made the 756th Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1867 and the 127th Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and Sword.

[edit] Marriages and issue

Bedroom of Sultan Abdül Aziz in Dolmabahçe Palace.

Ten children survived him.[15]

[edit] First marriage and issue

He married firstly at the Dolmabahçe Palace in Constantinople in 1856 to Georgian HH Dürrünev Kadın Efendi (Batumi, 15 March 1835 - Constantinople, Üsküdar, Çamlıca Palace, 4 December 1892), and had:

[edit] Second marriage and issue

He married secondly at the Dolmabahçe Palace in 1861 to HH Edâdil Kadın Efendi (1845 - Dolmabahçe Palace, 12 December 1875), and had:

[edit] Third marriage and issue

He married thirdly in 1872 to Circassian HH Gevherin Nedaxe Kadın Efendi (Caucasus, 8 July 1856 - Ortaköy Palace, Ortaköy, Constantinople, 20 September 1894), and had:

[edit] Fourth marriage and issue

He married fourthly at the Dolmabahçe Palace, Constantinople, on 21 September 1866 to Georgian HH Hayranidil Kadın Efendi (Kars, 2 November 1846 - Ortaköy Palace, Constantinople, 26 November 1898), and had:

[edit] Fifth marriage and issue

He married fifthly at the Dolmabahçe Palace, in 1868 to Georgian HH Nesherek (Nesrin) Haseki Kadın Efendi (Tbilisi, (1848 - 11 June 1876)Ortaköy Palace, Istanbul, , and had:

NOTES:This Line is Excluded from the Imperial House in 1920.

[edit] Sixth marriage and issue

He married sixthly to HH Yıldız Kadın Efendi, sister of HH Safinaz Kadın Efendi, a wife of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, and had:

[edit] References

Text document with red question mark.svg
 This article includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2009)
  1. ^ Chambers Biographical Dictionary, ISBN 0-550-18022-2, page 2
  2. ^ The Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol.7, Edited by Hugh Chisholm, (1911), 3; Constantinople, the capital of the Turkish Empire...
  3. ^ Britannica, Istanbul:When the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923, the capital was moved to Ankara, and Constantinople was officially renamed Istanbul in 1930.
  4. ^ Daniel T. Rogers, "All my relatives: Valide Sultana Partav-Nihal"
  5. ^ His profile in the Ottoman Web Site
  6. ^ "Women in Power" 1840-1870, entry: "1861-76 Pertevniyal Valide Sultan of The Ottoman Empire"
  7. ^ "Pertevniyal Valide Sultan Mosque Complex". Discover Islamic Art. http://www.discoverislamicart.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;tr;Mon01;30;en. Retrieved 2008-01-26. 
  8. ^ Christine Isom-Verhaaren, "Royal French Women in the Ottoman Sultans' Harem: The Political Uses of Fabricated Accounts from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-first Century"
  9. ^ Christopher Buyers, "The Muhammad 'Ali Dynasty Genealogy"
  10. ^ Non European Royalty Website, entry:"Egypt"
  11. ^ "Women in Power" 1840-1870, entry: "1863-79 Valida Pasha Khushiyar of Egypt"
  12. ^ Rulers from the House of Mohammed Aly
  13. ^ Genealogical entry: "Hoshiar Walda Pasha"
  14. ^ Davis, Claire (1970). The Palace of Topkapi in Istanbul. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 222. ASIN B000NP64Z2. 
  15. ^ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~royalty/turkey/i339.html i339.html

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Hugh Chisholm, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (Eleventh ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

[edit] External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Abd-ul-Aziz.
Abdülaziz
Born: February 9, 1830 Died: June 4, 1876
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Abdulmecid I		 Sultan of the Ottoman Empire
Jun 25, 1861 - May 30, 1876		 Succeeded by
Murad V
Sunni Islam titles
Preceded by
Abdulmecid I		 Caliph of Islam
Jun 25, 1861 - May 30, 1876		 Succeeded by
Murad V
v • d • e
Sultans of the Ottoman Empire by era
Rise (1299–1453)
Growth (1453–1606)
Stagnation (1606–1699)
Decline (1699–1808)
Tanzimat and Dissolution (1808–1922)
Mahmud II  · Abdülmecid I · Abdülaziz · Murad V · Abdülhamid II · Mehmed V · Mehmed VI
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd%C3%BClaziz"
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