30. Ottoman Sultan
Mahmud II
- Reign
- 1808 – 1839
- Born
- 1785
- Died
- 1839
He abolished the Janissary corps and rebuilt central administration and the army. The ground for the Tanzimat was laid in his reign.
Sultan Mahmud II was born in Istanbul on 20 July 1785. His father was Sultan Abdul Hamid I, his mother Nakşidil Valide Sultan. He was of middle height and broad-shouldered, with a white beard and a refined, agreeable face. Like other Ottoman sultans he received a strong education; Selim III had concerned himself personally with his schooling during his own reign.
A man of brave, cautious, patient and determined character, Mahmud II was twenty-three when he came to the throne on 28 July 1808, after the affair of Alemdar Mustafa. Intelligent and well informed, he had embraced the reforming movements of Europe. He gave due importance to matters of justice and had new laws and regulations prepared, for which he was given the title "Adlî", the Just.
A lover of poetry, literature and learning, and one who thought it necessary to walk among the people and listen to their troubles, Mahmud II worked to make the Ottoman state an advanced country both socially and in civilisation. Unable to recover from the tuberculosis he contracted, he died on 1 July 1839 at the age of fifty-four, in the villa of his sister Esma Sultan at Çamlıca, where he had gone to rest. With a great funeral procession and amid the tears of the people he was buried in his tomb on Divan Yolu.
- Sons: Abdülmecid, Abdülaziz, Bayezid, Abdülhamid, Süleyman, Mehmed, Murad, Nizameddin, Abdullah, Osman
- Daughters: Emine Sultan, Hamide Sultan, Hayriye Sultan, Şah Sultan, Saliha Sultan, Ayşe Sultan, Atike Sultan, Fatma Sultan, Münire Sultan, Mihrimah Sultan, Adile Sultan
Source: Osmanlı Tarihi Interaktif CD-ROM (Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları XXXI. Dizi-Sa.2)