The Hamidian period (c. 1878–1908), was named after Sultan

Abdul Hamid II Abdulhamid II or Abdul Hamid II (; ; 21 September 184210 February 1918) was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1876 to 1909, and the last sultan to exert effective control over the fracturing state. He oversaw a Decline and modernizati ...

, the 34th sultan of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, from 1876 to 1909, and the last sultan to exert effective control over the fracturing state. The Hamidian period was contained within the larger period known as the

Late Ottoman period The Late Ottoman period (c. 1750 - 1918) is the archaeologically and historically defined periodisation of areas under the control of the Ottoman Empire and its dependencies, primarily in the Middle East, North Africa, the Caucasus and the Balkans ...

(c. 1750–1918). The period effectively began after the

First Constitutional Era The First Constitutional Era (; ) of the Ottoman Empire was the period of constitutional monarchy from the promulgation of the Ottoman constitution of 1876 (, , meaning ' Basic Law' or 'Fundamental Law' in Ottoman Turkish), written by members ...

with the suspension of the first constitution in 1878, and ended in 1908 after revolutionaries belonging to the Internal Committee of Union and Progress, an organization of the

Young Turks The Young Turks (, also ''Genç Türkler'') formed as a constitutionalist broad opposition-movement in the late Ottoman Empire against the absolutist régime of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (). The most powerful organization of the movement, ...

movement, forced Sultan Abdul Hamid II to restore the Constitution, recall the parliament, and schedule an election, beginning the

Second Constitutional Era The Second Constitutional Era (; ) was the period of restored parliamentary rule in the Ottoman Empire between the 1908 Young Turk Revolution and the 1920 retraction of the constitution, after the dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies, during the ...

(c. 1908–1920). The reign of Abdülhamid II (1876–1909) is often regarded as having been a reaction against the

Tanzimat The (, , lit. 'Reorganization') was a period of liberal reforms in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Edict of Gülhane of 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. Driven by reformist statesmen such as Mustafa Reşid Pash ...

, but, insofar as the essence of the Tanzimat reforms was centralization rather than liberalization, Abdülhamid may be seen as its fulfiller rather than its destroyer. The continued development of the army and administration, the formation of a gendarmerie, the growth of communications—especially the telegraph and railways—and the formation of an elaborate spy system enabled the sultan to monopolize power and crush opposition. His brutal repression of the Armenians in 1894–96 earned him the European title "red sultan". But Abdülhamid's reign also made positive advances in education (including the renovation of

Istanbul University Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after Fall of Constantinople, the conquest of Constantinop ...

in 1900); legal reform, led by his grand vizier

Mehmed Said Pasha Mehmed Said Pasha (‎; 1838–1914), also known as Küçük Said Pasha (; "Said Pasha the Younger") or Şapur Çelebi or in his youth as Mabeyn Başkâtibi Said Bey, was an Ottoman Turkish monarchist, senator, statesman and editor of the ...

; and economic development, through the construction of railways in Asia Minor and Syria with foreign capital and of the Hejaz Railway from Damascus to Medina with the help of subscriptions from Muslims in other countries.

References

{{Abdul Hamid II History of the Ottoman Empire