15,697
edits
Changes
no edit summary
__NOTOC__
[[File:663px-Sultan_Abd%C3%BClmecid_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg|thumbnail|250px200px|left|Sultan Abdülmecid implemented the Tanzimat reforms]]
The Tanzimat reforms were carried out between 1830 and 1870 in the Ottoman Empire. They were a wide-ranging series of educational, political and economic reforms. They were an attempt at modernization to stop the decline of Ottoman power. The process of modernization involved adopting models and practices of western countries and societies, and it primarily motivated to compete for western powers and preserve their Empire.
====Political and Legal Changes====
[[File:Thomas_allom,_c1840,_The_Enterance_to_Divan.png|thumbnail|left|250px|Entrance to the Divan Istanbul in the nineteenth century by Thomas Allom]]
The Tanzimat reforms focused heavily on reforming the Ottoman education system. The Islamic Clerics had dominated Ottoman education, but the reforms reduced their influence.<ref>Incalek and Quatert, p. 103.</ref> The Ottoman government created schools and universities based on the western European model. This was designed to allow the Ottomans have the skills to run the economy and society in a modern way and to develop the technology they needed to develop modern armies and the economy need to sustain such forces. The Tanzimat reforms also provided political changes that were designed to improve the status of the non-Muslim population. They were granted equal status before the law with Muslims, for the first time.<ref>Salesman "Celenk Secularization Process in the History of Turkish Education." ''Journal Social Science'', vol 19(2): 2009, p. 101</ref>
