Osmanlı’nın Endüstri Devrimine İlk Adımları: Küçük ve Büyük Vapur
The First Ottoman Steps Towards the Industrial Revolution: The Small and the Big Steamship

Summary/Abstract: This article investigates the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the Ottoman Empire. It claims that the starting point of this process was the arrival of two steamboats in Istanbul. The Ottomans purchased Swift in 1828 and Hilton Joliff in the following year from Britain and these steamers were the first ones in the empire. Thus the Revolution, which started in Britain in the 1760s, entered the Ottoman lands through maritime. Although the word buğ was the first name for steamers, later on, the Ottomans preferred the names steamship, small steamer and big steamer. The Ottoman bureaucracy did not give a particular name for these two sister ships that served the shipyard by transporting foreign ambassadors, carrying materials and towing sailing ships until the end. So, the Ottomans tasted the industrial age's atmosphere thanks to these steamships remaining in naval service for almost eight years. The steamboats' legacy to the Ottomans was two-folded. The first is the establishment of steam engine-powered factories (vapurhaneler) in 1832-33. Secondly, since the ships were purchased for commercial purposes in their final years, they pioneered shipbuilding in the commercial fleet. Accordingly, they paved the way for the foundation of the merchant fleet.

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