The Eastern Telegraph Company in the Ottoman Empire at the End of the Nineteenth Century: A History of Imperial and Foreign Technology

Öz

This article examines the relationship between the Ottoman Telegraph Administration and the Eastern Telegraph Company, a British firm that built and managed the majority of the empire’s submarine telegraph cables. With telegraph stations along the empire’s shores, this company came to play a central role in intra- and trans-imperial communication. While on a superficial level the company appears to have controlled the underwater infrastructure in the empire, an examination of how the technology was actually operated reveals another story. By connecting company records with sources from the imperial administration from the 1860s until World War One, this article argues that the submarine telegraph network prompted an entangled relationship between the Ottoman state and the foreign company, whereby Ottoman actors affected company practice and the company mediated the Ottoman state’s emergence as a telegraphic power.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Aram Margosyan
• Margossian
• çıkarımsal istatistik
• Matematik tarihi
• Sihirli kareler
• Euler subay problemi
• Türkiye

Ondokuzuncu Yüzyılın Sonunda Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nda Şark Telgraf Kumpanyası: İmparatorluk ve Yabancı Teknolojinin Bir Tarihçesi

Öz

Bu makale Osmanlı telgraf teşkilatı ile, imparatorluğun denizaltı telgraf ağının büyük kısmını inşa eden ve işleten İngiliz firması Şark Telgraf Kumpanyası (Eastern Telegraph Company) arasındaki ilişkiyi incelemektedir. İmparatorluk kıyılarında kurulan telgraf istasyonları üzerinden bu şirket, imparatorluk içi ve dışı iletişim hizmetlerinde merkezi bir rol oynamıştır. Her ne kadar şirket, imparatorluğun denizaltı kablo ağının altyapısında söz sahibi olmuş gibi görünse de, teknolojinin fiilen nasıl uygulandığı incelendiğinde, durumun farklı olduğu anlaşılır. 1860lardan başlayan ve Birinci Dünya Savaşı’na kadar uzanan süre içinde şirket kayıtları ile imparatorluk kaynaklarının birlikte inceleyen bu çalışma, denizaltı kablo ağının Osmanlı devleti ile yabancı şirket arasında girift bir ilişkiye sebep olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır. Bu ilişki çerçevesinde, Osmanlı yöneticileri şirketin uygulamaları üzerinde etkili olurken, şirket de Osmanlı Devleti’nin telgraf alanında bir güç olarak doğmasına aracı olmuştur.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Telgraf
• denizaltı kabloları
• Şark Telgraf Kumpanyası
• Osmanlı İmparatorluğu
• Aram Margosyan
• Margossian
• çıkarımsal istatistik
• Matematik tarihi
• Sihirli kareler
• Euler subay problemi
• Türkiye

Kaynakça

1. Archival Sources / Arşiv Kaynakları
2. Telegraph Museum Porthcurno (POR)
3. While there is limited documentation regarding the ethnic background of the Ottomans who were employed — or paid — by the Eastern Telegraph Company, it is notable that a number of them had Christian names. More research is needed to determine if there was such a trend, and if so, whether it was due to a prejudice on the part of the company, or disproportional access and interest on the part of Christian Ottomans for working with the firm.
4. Eastern Telegraph Company Rule Book. London, 1883, POR DOC/ETC/5/184 India Joint Purse Agreement, May 28, 1878, POR DOC/ETC/1/96
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6. “Sketches on Djedda Cable Repair,” by H.W. Ansell, January 1890. Housed at Telegraph Museum Porthcurno Archive, DOC/3/119
7. “View of Galvanometer in Same Test. Oriental and ‘Eastern’ ideas of a ‘level.’” By H.W. Ansell, January 1890. Housed at Telegraph Museum Porthcurno Archive, DOC/3/119
8. Letter from H.E. Blanchard to Mr. Halpin, February 1, 1889, POR DOC/ETC/5/123

9. Letter from Jules Despecher to Feizi Pasha, Constantinople, July 20, 1873, POR DOC/ETC/1/79 Dardanelles-Port Lagos Concession, August 20, 1878, Article VII, POR DOC/ETC/1/79
10. Letter from John Pender to Said Pasha, October 10, 1883, POR DOC/ETC/1/84 Duplicate Candia-Canea Cable, August 15, 1889, POR DOC/ETC/1/84 Odessa-Constantinople Concession, May 26, 1873, POR DOC/ETC/1/79
11. Letter from James Anderson, Athens Divisional Manager of Eastern Telegraph Company, to V. Hekimian, Eastern Telegraph Company Representative to Sublime Porte, July 3, 1907, POR DOC/ETC/7/52
12. Assimilation of Tariff between Turkey and Great Britain, via Odessa, July 12, 1905, POR BSTC/7/1 Anderson Letters, Letter from T.L. Greenwood to R.H. Finnis, September 9, 1902. POR DOC/ETC/7/52
13. Anderson Letters, Letter from James Anderson to an Unnamed Managing Director. December 31, 1902, POR DOC/ETC/7/52
14. T.C. Cumhurbaşkanlığı Devlet Arşivleri Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi (BOA)
15. Convention for the Protection of Submarine Cables, March 14, 1884. BOA HR/HMS/ISO/167/13 Arrangement between İzzet Effendi and G. Serpos Effendi, February 14, 1881. BOA HR/HMS/ISO/234, no.37
16. SALT Araştırma (SALT)
17. Telgraf ve Posta Nezareti Saltanat-ı Seniye-i Telgraf Merakizine Mahsus Resmi Rehberdir = Administration impériale des Postes et Télégraphes : Guide officiel à l’Usage des Bureaux télégraphiques de l’Empire. Dersaadet = Constantinople: Asır Matbaası = Imprimerie Assir, 1905. SALT 384/Tel/C/1, no. 21
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