İcmal-i Ahval-i Avrupa (Transcription and evaluations)

Archival documents and authored works, which are among the main sources of history studies, are also important with regard to Ottoman studies. The gradual increase, in recent years, of research, bibliographies and re-editions related to such sources has opened new horizons in our knowledge of history. These activities have at the same time increased our awareness on the extent and diversity of sources written in Ottoman times in all fields of life that still await to be discovered, examined and made accessible. From the end of the 17th century on, awareness grew in the Ottoman State on its own shortcomings in military, economic, scientific and technical areas as compared to Europe; need was felt to follow the latter closely, which helped to shape the reforms of the Tulip Age, the Nizam-ı Cedid and the Tanzimat. In this regard, we selected to work the manuscript of the period İcmal-i Ahval-i Avrupa. We hope that our transcription of the text of this work will contribute to our understanding of the process in general and this manuscript in particular. The present study is based on the manuscript titled İcmal-i Ahval-i Avrupa which is preserved at the Library of Topkapı Palace Museum under inventory code Revan 1648. Those parts that were illegible due to deterioration were completed from the other four copies in different libraries. All the manuscripts are copies; the original manuscript is not found. In addition to the transcripted text, differences between the copies are indicated in this study.