Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
TARIH INCELEMELERI DERGISI, sa.1, ss.1-31, 2023 (ESCI)
Westernization policy left its mark on the last period of the Ottoman Empire. After the Sublime Porte turned to the West with the imperial Edict of Gulhane, European-style pleasures and entertainments such as clubs, pubs, theatres, musical ensembles, and balls began to spread. Foreigners living in Galata, Pera, and Beyoglu accelerated the adaptation process of Turks to this entertainment culture. To ensure westernization, the Ottoman elite also wrote articles aimed at social change, from etiquette, which is among the Western cultural forms, to indoor arrangements and even how to dance at the ball. From the eyes of Ottoman intellectuals who wanted to modernize, Europe was seen at the peak of civilization. The ball, which was transferred from the West to our country through embassies, was held for both entertainment and diplomatic purposes. The Ottoman bureaucracy and the nobility were far from the ballroom culture. The Ottoman elite was aware of this situation and wanted to educate the elite about the ball by bringing basic questions such as "What is the etiquette of the ball?" "How to dance?" "How should women be treated at the ball?", into their works. With these questions, the first ball in the Ottoman Empire, what was written about the etiquettes of the ball, and the purpose of the balls organized by foreign ambassadors in Istanbul formed the basis of this research. This study is based on the works published in the 19th century and gives information about ball etiquette and documents in the Ottoman Archives of the Presidency of State Archives. By using the works written in the last period of the Ottoman Empire, it will be tried to convey how the ballroom etiquette should be. On the other hand, the nature of the balls organized by the ambassadors who organized the first ball in the Ottoman Empire and made the Turkish youth try their first dance in the embassy halls will be tried to revealed in the light of archive documents.