1.
Pertevniyal Valide Sultan Mosque
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The Pertevniyal Valide Sultan Mosque, also known as the Aksaray Valide Mosque, is an Ottoman imperial mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. It is located at the intersection of Ordu Street and Atatürk Boulevard in the Aksaray neighborhood and it is located next to Pertevniyal High School which was also built by the order of Sultana Pertevniyal in 1872. It was designed by the Italian architect Montani, the construction work began in November 1869, and the mosque was finished in 1871. The building is an example of Turkish Rococo with admixture of classical Turkish, Gothic, Renaissance and it is rather unique in the details of the rock work. Ottoman architecture List of mosques Faroqhi, Suraiyah, subjects of the Sultan, Culture and Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire
2.
Aksaray
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Aksaray is a city in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey and the capital district of Aksaray Province. According to 2009 census figures, the population of the province is 376907 of which 171,423 live in the city of Aksaray. The district covers an area of 4,589 km2, Aksaray region was an important stopover along the Silk Road that crossed through Anatolia for centuries and the city of Aksaray has a long history. The town of Garsaura was named Archelaïs by Archelaus of Cappadocia, in Roman times, the town was known as Colonia and was a bishopric and an important military centre, holding an imperial aplekton. No longer a residential bishopric, Colonia in Cappadocia is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see, Colonia is also a titular metropolis in Turkey of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The town was prosperous during Ottoman times due to its proximity to Tuz Gölü. The region came under the control of the Seljuk Turks after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate they founded left important landmarks in and around Aksaray. Today Aksaray is a quiet mid-size city, ihlara Valley and the other tourist attractions of Cappadocia are close, but as yet, Aksaray has not been very successful in attracting visitors to the city itself. A new attraction in Aksaray city is Hünkarland, a theme park with artificial waterfalls. This is an agricultural region producing grains, meat and dairy and many kinds of fruit. Therefore, the cuisine of the town is of high standard, Aksaray has a cold semi-arid climate under the Köppen and either a hot summer continental climate or hot summer oceanic under the Trewartha classification. Hasan Dağı – a 3, 000m volcano between Aksaray and Niğde, visible from the city, aşıklı Höyük – a burial mound 25 km east of the city of Aksaray. Acemhöyük – an early Bronze Age settlement,18 km north-west of the city of Aksaray, the ancient Roman and Byzantine city of Nora, in the village of Helvadere near the city of Aksaray. Ihlara – a canyon,40 km from the city of Aksaray, contains ancient churches, carved into the valley walls, ervah cemetery in the city contains the tombs of 14th century Islamic leader Somuncu Baba and the scholar Cemaleddini Aksaray. The race tours 244 km in six days through several places across Cappadocia reaching out to Lake Tuz, karamanoğlu Camii – a large mosque in the city centre. Eğri Minare – a Seljuk Turkish minaret 1221–1236, built under the rule of Aläettin Keykubat I The high church – on a steep rock 3 km from the city, there are three monumental caravanserais in the neighbourhood of Aksaray. The best known is Sultan Han, located in the village Sultanhan about 40 km west of Aksaray. After it was destroyed by a fire, it was restored and extended in 1278 by the governor Seraceddin Ahmed Kerimeddin bin El Hasan during the reign of the sultan Kaykhusraw III
3.
Istanbul
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Istanbul, historically known as Constantinople and Byzantium, is the most populous city in Turkey and the countrys economic, cultural, and historic center. Istanbul is a city in Eurasia, straddling the Bosphorus strait between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its commercial and historical center lies on the European side and about a third of its population lives on the Asian side, the city is the administrative center of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, both hosting a population of around 14.7 million residents. Istanbul is one of the worlds most populous cities and ranks as the worlds 7th-largest city proper, founded under the name of Byzantion on the Sarayburnu promontory around 660 BCE, the city developed to become one of the most significant in history. After its reestablishment as Constantinople in 330 CE, it served as a capital for almost 16 centuries, during the Roman and Byzantine, the Latin. Overlooked for the new capital Ankara during the period, the city has since regained much of its prominence. The population of the city has increased tenfold since the 1950s, as migrants from across Anatolia have moved in, arts, music, film, and cultural festivals were established at the end of the 20th century and continue to be hosted by the city today. Infrastructure improvements have produced a complex transportation network, considered a global city, Istanbul has one of the fastest-growing metropolitan economies in the world. It hosts the headquarters of many Turkish companies and media outlets and accounts for more than a quarter of the gross domestic product. Hoping to capitalize on its revitalization and rapid expansion, Istanbul has bid for the Summer Olympics five times in twenty years, the first known name of the city is Byzantium, the name given to it at its foundation by Megarean colonists around 660 BCE. The name is thought to be derived from a personal name, ancient Greek tradition refers to a legendary king of that name as the leader of the Greek colonists. Modern scholars have hypothesized that the name of Byzas was of local Thracian or Illyrian origin. He also attempted to promote the name Nova Roma and its Greek version Νέα Ῥώμη Nea Romē, the use of Constantinople to refer to the city during the Ottoman period is now considered politically incorrect, even if not historically inaccurate, by Turks. By the 19th century, the city had acquired other names used by foreigners or Turks. Europeans used Constantinople to refer to the whole of the city, pera was used to describe the area between the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus, but Turks also used the name Beyoğlu. The name İstanbul is commonly held to derive from the Medieval Greek phrase εἰς τὴν Πόλιν and this reflected its status as the only major city in the vicinity. The importance of Constantinople in the Ottoman world was reflected by its Ottoman name Der Saadet meaning the gate to Prosperity in Ottoman. An alternative view is that the name evolved directly from the name Constantinople, with the first, a Turkish folk etymology traces the name to Islam bol plenty of Islam because the city was called Islambol or Islambul as the capital of the Islamic Ottoman Empire
4.
Valide sultan
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Valide sultan was the title held by the legal mother of a ruling Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. The title was first used in the 16th century for Hafsa Sultan, consort of Selim I and mother of Suleiman the Magnificent, normally, this title was held by the living mother of a reigning sultan. The mothers who died before their sons accession to the throne were never bestowed with the title of valide sultan, in special cases, there were grandmothers and stepmothers of a reigning sultan who assumed the title valide sultan. The word valide literally means mother in Ottoman Turkish, the Turkish pronunciation of the word valide is. Sultan is an Arabic word originally meaning authority or dominion, by the beginning of the 16th century, this title, carried by both men and women of the Ottoman dynasty, was replacing other titles by which prominent members of the imperial family had been known. Consequently, the title valide hatun also turned into valide sultan and this usage underlines the Ottoman conception of sovereign power as family prerogative. Western tradition knows the Ottoman ruler as sultan, but the Ottomans themselves used padişah or hünkar to refer to their ruler, the emperor’s formal title consisted of sultan together with khan. In formal address, the children were also entitled sultan, with imperial princes carrying the title before their given name. Example, Şehzade Sultan Mehmed and Mihrimah Sultan, son and daughter of Suleiman the Magnificent, henceforth, the mother of the reigning sultan was the only person of non imperial blood to carry the title sultan. Title valide carried before or after given name, according to a genealogical website, the formal way of addressing a valide is Devletlû İsmetlu Vâlide Sultân Aliyyetüş-Şân Hazretleri. Valide sultan was perhaps the most important position in the Ottoman Empire after the sultan himself, as the mother to the sultan, by Islamic tradition, the valide sultan would have a significant influence on the affairs of the empire. She had great power in the court and her own rooms, Valide sultan also traditionally had access to considerable economic resources and often funded major architectural projects. In particular during the 17th century, in a known as the Sultanate of Women. The most powerful and well-known of all sultans in the history of the Ottoman Empire were Nurbanu Sultan, Safiye Sultan. Most harem women who were slaves were never married to the sultans. Nevertheless, their children were considered legitimate under Islamic law if recognized by the father. The list does not include the complete list of mothers of the Ottoman sultans, most who held the title of valide sultan were the biological mothers of the reigning sultans. In special cases, there were grandmothers and stepmothers of the sultans who assumed the title of valide sultan, like Kösem Sultan
5.
Ottoman Empire
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After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
6.
Wallachia
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Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians, Wallachia is traditionally divided into two sections, Muntenia and Oltenia. Wallachia as a whole is referred to as Muntenia through identification with the larger of the two traditional sections. In 1417, Wallachia accepted the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire, in 1859, Wallachia united with Moldavia to form the United Principalities, which adopted the name Romania in 1866 and officially became the Kingdom of Romania in 1881. In the Early Middle Ages, in Slavonic texts, the name of Zemli Ungro-Vlahiskoi was also used as a designation for its location, official designations of the state were Muntenia and Țara Românească. The traditional Hungarian name for Wallachia is Havasalföld, or literally Snowy Lowlands, in Ottoman Turkish, the term Eflâk Prensliği, or simply Eflâk افلاق, appears. Mavrovlachi is another name of the Balkan Vlachs or Aromanians, both names could come from a confusion, Kara Iflak, the Turkish name of Wallachia, means land of Wallachians, but later kara was misconstrued as kara. Later, the Turks renamed Moldavia and Wallachia as Kara Iflak and Ak Iflak according to the Turkish cardinal points symbolism, north is symbolized by black, and west is symbolized by white. Ardeal/Erdel was the name of Transylvania, and Kara Iflak, Northern Wallachia was either Wallachia, north of the Balkan territories inhabited by Vlachs, the second explanation is typologically better. In the Second Dacian War western Oltenia became part of the Roman province of Dacia, the Roman limes was initially built along the Olt River, before being moved slightly to the east in the 2nd century—during which time it stretched from the Danube up to Rucăr in the Carpathians. The Roman line fell back to the Olt in 245 and, in 271, in 328, the Romans built a bridge between Sucidava and Oescus which indicates that there was a significant trade with the peoples north of the Danube. A short period of Roman rule in the area is attested under Emperor Constantine I, the period of Goth rule ended when the Huns arrived in the Pannonian Plain and, under Attila, attacked and destroyed some 170 settlements on both sides of the Danube. Wallachia was under the control of the First Bulgarian Empire from its establishment in 681, in 1241, during the Mongol invasion of Europe, Cuman domination was ended—a direct Mongol rule over Wallachia was not attested, but it remains probable. His successor was his brother Bărbat.1334, Basarab was succeeded by Nicolae Alexandru, followed by Vladislav I. Under Radu I and his successor Dan I, the realms in Transylvania, as the entire Balkan Peninsula became an integral part of the growing Ottoman Empire, Wallachia became engaged in frequent confrontations in the final years of Mircea the Elders reign. Mircea initially defeated the Ottomans in several battles, driving away from Dobruja and briefly extending his rule to the Danube Delta, Dobruja. He swung between alliances with Sigismund of Hungary and Jagiellon Poland, and accepted a treaty with the Ottomans in 1417, after Mehmed I took control of Turnu Măgurele. The two ports remained part of the Ottoman state, with interruptions, until 1829
7.
Circassia
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Circassia is a region in the North Caucasus and along the northeast shore of the Black Sea. It is the homeland of the Circassian people. The name Circassia is a Latinisation of Cherkess, the Turkic name for the Adyghe people, the name Cherkess is traditionally applied to the Adyghe by neighbouring Turkic peoples. Another historical name for the country was Zyx or the Zygii, at the end of the 15th century, a detailed description of Circassia and of its inhabitants was made by Genoese traveller and ethnographer Giorgio Interiano. Circassia was located in Eastern Europe, near the northeastern Black Sea coast, before the Russian conquest of the Caucasus, it covered the entire fertile plateau and the steppe of the northwestern region of the Caucasus, with an estimated population of between 3 and 4 million. Circassia’s historical great range extended from the Taman Peninsula in the west, sochi is considered by many Circassians as their traditional capital city. According to Circassians, the 2014 Winter Olympic village is built in an area of graves of Circassians after their defeat by the Russians in 1864. 1237 – Historian Rashid-ad-Din in the Persian Chronicles, wrote that the Circassian king Tukar was killed in battle against the Mongols. 1333 – In his letter, Pope John XXII, the Rome Pontiff thanks the Governor of Circassians for his assistance in implementing the Christian faith among the Adygs. Verzachts power and status was so high that his example was followed by the rest of the Circassian princes,1471 – A contract was signed between the ruler of Circassia and the ruler of Caffa, naming another ruler Zichia - Petrezok, the paramount lord of Zichia. Under the contract, Zichia would supply large quantities of grain in the Cаffа, the region was famed for its beautiful women, many of whom were married to the Ottoman sultan and Persian Shahs and had influential positions in the Imperial Harem. Most of the population was expelled from their country to the neighboring Ottoman Empire in the late 19th century after the Russian–Circassian War, today, about 700,000 Circassians remain in historical Circassia in todays Russia. The 2010 Russian Census recorded 718,727 Circassians, of which 516,826 are Kabardians,124,835 are Adyghe proper,73,184 are Cherkess and 3,882 Shapsugs, the largest Circassian population resides in Turkey. Under Russian and Soviet rule, ethnic and tribal divisions between Circassians were promoted, resulting in several different statistical names being used for parts of the Circassian people. Consequently, there is an effort among Circassians to unite under the name Circassian in Russian Censuses to reflect, the majority of the diaspora already tends to call itself Circassian. Let Our Fame Be Great, Journeys Among the Defiant People of the Caucasus, the Circassians, A Handbook, London, Routledge, New York, Routledge & Palgrave,2001. Circassian Culture and Folklore, Hospitality, Traditions, Cuisine, Festivals, the Circassian Genocide, Rutgers University Press,2013. Everyday life of the Caucasian highlanders, ISBN 5-235-02585-7 Journal of a residence in Circassia during the years 1837,1838, and 1839 - Bell, James Stanislaus
