History of The Ottoman State, Society and Civilization - 2 Volumes

Edited by Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu
Foreword by Halil İnalcik,
İstanbul, vol.1: 2001, vol.2; 2002 (in English)
ISBN 92-9063-051-5 (vol.1),
ISBN 92-9063-052-3 (vol.2),
ISBN 92-9063-053-1 (set)

This collective work is the first volume of a comprehensive survey which covers the six hundred year-old history of the Ottoman state and civilisation from the formation of the Ottoman principality until the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. Volume One comprises articles titled "From the Founding to Küçük Kaynarca", "From Küçük Kaynarca to the Collapse", "Ottoman State Organization", "Administrative Organization during the Tanzimat Period", "Ottoman Military Establishment", "The Ottoman Legal System", "Ottoman Society", "The Structure of the Ottoman Economy".

Volume Two includes articles titled "Ottoman Turkish", "Turkish Literature in Anatolia", "Turkish Literature during the Period of Westernization", "An Exploration into Intellectual Life during the Period of Westernization", "The Literature of Muslim Peoples in Europe during the Ottoman Period", "Aspects of Intellectual Life in the Arab Provinces during the Ottoman Period", "Ottoman Educational and Scholarly-Scientific Institutions", "The Ottoman Scientific-Scholarly Literature", "Art and Architecture", "The Art of Calligraphy in the Ottoman Empire", "The Art of Illumination in the Ottoman Empire".

This book is a product of the large-scale research project of IRCICA titled "History of Muslim Nations". It aims to give an objective account of the history of the Ottoman state and civilisation on the basis of the Ottoman archival sources, chronicles, and works by contemporary Western and Turkish scholars. The work includes 250 photographs.

This book is a comprehensive study of various aspects of the six hundred-year old history of the Ottoman State and civilisation from the formation of the Ottoman principality until the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. Rather than enumerating the historical facts in a chronological order, the book treats the subjects at hand in an analytical way by detecting relations between the events and attempting to reach a synthesis. The first volume focuses on the following subjects: Ottoman political history, Ottoman state administration during the classical period, administrative organisation during and after the Tanzimat period, Ottoman military organisation, Ottoman legal system, Ottoman society, Ottoman economy. The second volume deals with the following subjects: language and literature, intellectual life, religion and thought, education and science, architecture and art - covering calligraphy, illumination and music.