Tanzimat

Tanzimat (tän`zēmät), [Turk.,=reorganization], the name referring to a period of modernizing reforms instituted under the Ottoman Empire from 1839 to 1876. In 1839, under the rule of Sultan Abd al-Majid, the edict entitled Hatti-i Sharif of Gulhane laid out the fundamental principles of Tanzimat reform. Foremost among the laws was the security of honor, life, and property for all Ottoman subjects, regardless of race or religion. Other reforms, which sought to reduce theological dominance, included the lifting of monopolies, fairer taxation, secularized schools, a changed judicial system, and new rules regarding military service. Tanzimat ended (1876) under Abd al-Hamid II's reign, when the ideas for a Turkish constitution and parliament promoted by the vizier Midhat Pasha were rejected by the sultan.

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Tanzimat

(Turkish: “Reorganization”) (1839–76) Series of reforms undertaken in the Ottoman Empire to modernize society along secular and bureaucratic lines. The first set of reforms (1839) sought to secularize the government's treatment of people and property and to reform taxation and military conscription. Later reforms (1856) established a secular school system and a new law code. Efforts to centralize government administration, however, ended by concentrating all authority in the hands of the sultan, who often abused the power. The constitution of 1876, while promising democratic reforms, actually was intended to stave off European intervention. See also Abdülhamid II; Young Turks.