The issue of Ottoman centralisation and local reactions: political and ideological transformation of mount lebanon between 1858 and 1900

Official URL: http://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b1558766 (Table of Contents)

The reasons of the political, economical and ideological transformation in Mount Lebanon which began in the 19th century cannot be explained without taking into consideration the changes in the Ottoman centre. Although the 1858 Lebanese Civil War is seen as a breaking point in the political history of the Mountain, in essence it is only a byproduct of the political developments emerged in the region throughout the 19th century. The occupation of Mount Lebanon by the governor of Egypt Muhmammad Ali Pasha constituted the real beginning point of all the political transformation process in Mount Lebanon. Muhammad Ali Pasha and his son Ibrahim Pasha had certain centralization attempts during their reign in the Mountain. However this situation caused the emergence and the rise of tension between Druzes and Maronites. This social tension even could not be moderated by the reform attempts of the Sublime Porte and by the Double Qaimaqamate system established by the center. The Mutasarrifiyat regime in the Mountain which established in 1861 immediately after the end of the Civil War increased the autonomy of the Mountain and in addition to this it ended the feudal structure of the region. The emergence of the Ottomanist policies as the ideology of the Porte's centralization attempts caused the emergence of certain reactions in the Mountain. This study will try to explain the political and the ideological transformation in Mount Lebanon during the Hamidian era in context of the centralization and Ottomanism policies of the Sublime Porte.