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Last Ottoman dies, but the civilization endures
It was only a blip on the world news last week, but historians will remember it as the end of an era. Ertugrul Osman, the last heir to the throne of the Ottoman Empire, has died at the age of 97. He was the last grandson of Sultan Abdul-Hamid II, and would have become Sultan himself if the caliphate hadn't been abolished in 1922 as the remnants of the Ottoman Empire remade itself into the Republic of Turkey following defeat in World War One.
Osman reportedly never wanted to be Sultan, but if the empire survived he would have ruled over a civilization of great artistic achievements. The Ottomans may be a thing of the past but you can still enjoy Ottoman art, especially the architecture that graces all parts of the former empire, which once stretched west from Istanbul almost to Vienna, and south across the Middle East to Yemen and west into North Africa.
Ottoman architecture took its cues from Byzantium, an empire that ruled much of the area the Ottomans took over, as well as the refined styles of Iran. The gallery shows a sampling of what to expect as you journey through the former empire.
Gallery: Ottoman architecture
Filed under: Arts and Culture, History, Learning, Asia, Europe, Turkey
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nailbunny Sep 26th 2009 9:32PM
This was an excellent post. I knew almost nothing about the ottoman empire and this inspired me to check out some histories of the empire.
John Sep 26th 2009 9:32PM
Saying there exists an inspiring story about the Ottomans is no different than an ignorant person claiming to be inspired and awed by the Nazi's. The Ottoman Empire were cruel genocider's of the European people, specifically Greece. The conducted a genocide called the "Sfaximo" (the slaying by sword) of all Greek Orthodox Christians living in Istanbul and Constantinople.
Make no mistake, this is a happy day for the world. The Ottoman's should not be respected or cheered. We should embellish that another mark of tyranny has left this World.
Alex Oct 2nd 2009 8:32PM
Only fools would say like that. Christians in Balkans survived because of Ottoman Empire,who protected them from Fanatic Catholics. It provided shelter to jews who were expelled from all over europe during the height of INQUISITION.Biggest murdering empire was;
1, British - Wiped out entire population of Native Americans and aboriginals of Australia. Slaughtered millions in South Asia & Mid East.
2. French : Committed genocide in South East Asia & Algeria
3. Russian: Massacred millions in Caucasus,Central Asia & East europe.
4. Spain: For 800 Moorish rulers of Spain allowed religious harmony. When Moorish rule ended, these fanatics catholics killed,expelled millions of jews/muslimas & later wiped out all people in central/south America.
These were the worst empires in world history. Ottoman Empire was a blessing.World awaits rise of New Ottoman Empire (Union of Turkic States) !
The Truth Sep 26th 2009 9:33PM
Hard to shed tears for a monarchy that butchered, colonized, raped and converted people by the sword. Alex, whats the difference between the murderous Ottomans and the Western colonialists? Only difference I see is one claims to be Muslim the other Christian, I say claim because I don't think Allah or Jesus said butcher people.
ALEX Sep 30th 2009 12:28PM
If the Ottomans had butchered all christians, there would be no christian left in Balkans,Caucasus & Eastern Europe.How many christian nation do you see ther ?
For 800 years of Muslim rule in Spain, people of all faith lived in peace. Even the spanish called it "convivencia" meaning co-existence. What did the christians do when they had the upper hand ? INQUISITION. All non-christians were BURNT in stake,killed,expelled of forcefully converted. Same goes for Ottoman Empire. It was Ottoman Empire that gave shelter to ALL fleeing INQUISITION. The tolerence shown by Ottomans to its subject was unheard of among its christian neighbor.
So YES, there is difference & NO they are not the same.Do not compare slaughtering British/French/Russian or Dutch with compessionate Ottomans !
From murdering crusaders to Inquisitors to Hitler,Moosolini,Stalin,Truman (criminal who dropped A-bomb on civilians)Milesovich or BUSH none of these world biggest war criminals were OTTOMAN !
Adam Nov 9th 2009 2:28AM
Alex, perhaps you are forgetting the Armenian Genocide... Oh wait, that didn't happen did it? Face it, all world powers committed atrocities, including the Ottomans. You seem to have an agenda against Christian nations (especially Catholics) but like all Turks, turn a blind eye to the ugly things your own people committed in the past. At least Australians, Britons and Germans acknowledge what their ancestors did.
And perhaps you should re-read some of your history on British settlement in the new world. Sure, Native Americans were subjected to some terrible atrocities, as were Australian Aboriginals, but they weren't "completely wiped out". I should know, I see plenty of Aboriginals in my home town every day...
Good luck establishing your turkic state. btw, nationalism is dead.
Ramo Oct 8th 2009 10:28AM
It makes no sense to think Ottomans were the bad guys. They rules the greek for 400 years. Greeks would have spoken Turkish if they did the same as other powers did. India is speaking English because it was forced down their throats.
Alex Nov 12th 2009 2:10AM
Adam Perhaps you are forgetting the crimes committed by people of your faith. Biggest murderers & criminals were all born to christian faith.
-Crusades:Millions dead!
-Inquisition:Millions expelled, killed or burnt alive at stakes.
-Slavery:Millions enslaved,killed and shipped to Americas.By conservative
estimate roughly 20% of ~25 million who were shipped, died during voyage and
were thrown in the sea !
-Genocide: Entire population of Native Americans(Millions !) & Austarlian
Aboroginals wiped out
-Aparthield,segregation: Millions brutalized/terrorized because of the color of their
skin
-Colonialism: BILLIONS enslaved in their own land.Millions massacred,their lands
looted and occupied because they opted for FREEDOM
-WW1 & 2: 60 Million DEAD
-Neo Nazis/KKK,skinheads: Terrorizing millions
-IRA,ETA,FARC and counless others: Largest terror network in the world
Genocides by christians (a small fraction of the CRIMES)
----------------------------------
1. French genocide in Algeria & Indo-China (South East Asia) & Africa
2. British genocide in India, Africa
3. Dutch genocide in Indonesia, Africa
4. Spanish & Potugese genocide in South America
5. German slaughter of humanity in Europe & Africa
6. Italian genocide in Libya
7. Russian genocide in Caucasus,Central Asia, Volga & Europe
4. Serbian genocide in Balkan
5. American genocide in Iraq & Afghanistan
Hitler,Moosolini,Stalin,Truman(the THUG who dropped A-bomb on civilians), Milesovich were all BORN christians.
----------------------
Never saw a single christian state ever apologizing for the crimes against humanity they committed.
It seems to me, you are the one who has an agenda against the Muslim world !
You are dead wrong. I am not a Turk and have nothing to do with Turkic state, but one who believes world must know of the atrocities committed by those racist-fasict-fanatic-terrorists who had bible in one hand & bullet on the other !
Adam Nov 15th 2009 5:53AM
No Alex, I do not have an agenda against the Muslim world.
If you actually read my post properly you would have seen that I was not making any excuses for the crimes committed by Christian empires, but saying that every great nation and empire has committed some form of genocide. I could list the (continuing) human rights violations, genocides and wars that the Muslim world has waged over the ages, but I seriously don't have time for that.
Your list contains conflicts that have very little, or NO religious significance. Even the IRA campaign was waged over British occupation of Nth Ireland, and not solely for the fact that that the British were Protestants.
Clearly you cannot be swayed if you think it is the west committing genocide in the middle east right now. Perhaps you conveniently forgot that the terrorist attacks against Iraqis, Afghans and Pakistanis are being committed by Islamists, which is where the overwhelming bulk of casualties are coming from.
Its pretty easy to find examples of christian states who have apologised for their past actions, Muslim nations, I'm not so sure about.
Anyway, what I'm getting at here is that humans are jerks, we kill each other no matter what religion, whether they be Christian, Muslim, Hindu (cant say Buddhists I guess) And lets not forget that every nation and religion has also contributed greatly to humanity...