Social, cultural and economic structure of Anatolia according to the British travellers in the reign of Mahmud II

This thesis aims to analyze the social, cultural and economic structure of Anatolia according to Western travellers' accounts. In this respect, the social strata of Anatolia was classified into three main social groups: the city dwellers, peasants and the nomads. In the detailed accounts of the travellers are pictured a wide array of aspects from commercial activities and the urban life, daily habits and the place like coffehouse they spend time to physical appearances and the superstitions of the Anatolian people. Besides this, examples of Ottoman modernization and the perspectives of the travellers towards Ottoman civilization are determined. The scope of the thesis is limited to the defined borders of Anatolia today. The time period covered was confined to the reign of Mahmud II. The travellers' accounts examined are mostly from the British subjects, also the Scottish and Irish. İstanbul is excluded from the study as it constitutes the real purpose and bulk of these accounts and geographically and culturally. In this regard, the travellers' observations concerning Anatolia were compared in order to get a sound evaluation. According to the results of the thesis, it is concluded that the social and cultural structure of the Ottoman society began to change radically initially among the upper strata due to the modernization efforts in the Ottoman State in the first half of the 19th century. This enthusiasm was not shared by people belonging to the lower strata since they were traditionally resistant to new ways of life. The Ottoman economy began to crumble as a result of the increasing in European manufactured goods and commercial activities. Despite having major differences Muslim and non-Muslim, subjects shared some common characteristics, and religion was a major factor in life of the subjects. Demographically, the Empire was acquiring a new character and urban, rural and nomadic people were still living different lives. The thesis is revealed some analyzes made by travellers compared their observations with the prejudices about the Turks.