Education ın Kavala (1869-1914)

The Ottoman State had reigned over large lands for many years, in a geography where people from different religions and cultures lived. The increase in conquests and the expansion of geography made it difficult to provide central authority. Especially in the recent periods of the state, problems experienced by the influence of external forces had brought with them various reforms. Military, social and educational reforms are a few of them. The reforms made to gather the state had been planned to be implemented throughout the country, and the Balkans was a region affected by these reforms. Kavala is a small town conquered by the Ottoman State in the Balkans and attached to the province of Thessaloniki. Although we remember historically as the birthplace of Mehmet Ali Pasha of Egypt, there is undoubtedly more to Ottoman history than that. The reforms that took place in the Ottoman State affected Kavala as well as in all the provinces. The aim of our research, which deals with the modernization of Ottoman education and how Thessaloniki and Kavala were affected by this modernization, is to reveal the developments related to education in Kavala in the last periods of the state. Knowing the education of Thessaloniki and Kavala, especially in the 19th century, also means knowing the educational situation of the Balkans in this period. For this reason, in our study, the subjects such as the transition of the city of Kavala to the Ottoman administration, its geographical location, population, education, schools, lessons, teachers and salaries have been mentioned. Books, theses and articles guided our study, in which Ottoman archive documents were used as the main source. As a result, it has been seen that Kavala was an important settlement where the modernization of Ottoman education had been followed in many ways.