Inventor and the State: Inventors in the Late Ottoman Period

Abstract

We observe a tangible increase in the number of the people who were keen on producing new things in the whole world after the Industrial Revolution. This does not mean that there was no inventor before the Industrial Revolution but it was not possible to see them as studious and enthusiastic as they were after the revolution. Just like this development was the product of the industrial evolution seen within the context of an unbroken technological progress, the development of modern industry has been the work of a world of inventors awakened after this evolution. Therefore industry, technology and invention have become the three intertwined concepts which can not be separated from each other. The question is then whether the inter-relation among these concepts was understood by the Ottoman side? Where is the Ottoman geography where a real industrial revolution could not have been realized in this new world of renovation? Was it informed about the events there? Did it try to specially for form an inventor environment of itself? Could it have done its best when the inventors hoped the help and support of the state? On the other hand, what kinds of inventions made by the local or foreign inventors moving around the Ottoman geography? Were especially the local inventors interested in the necessities of the life of the people and the state while they were animating their inventions? Or did they only act under the effect of the world of their mind and imagination? This work aims to produce some (though not completely satisfactory answers to these questions within a reasonable framework in the light of the archival documents.