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BY 3.0 license Open Access Published by De Gruyter 2018

A Land of Opportunities: Foreign Engineers in the Ottoman Empire

From the book Philosophy of Globalization

  • Darina Martykánová and Meltem Kocaman

Abstract

Hundreds of foreign engineers worked in the vast lands of the Ottoman Empire from the eighteenth to the early twentieth century. These engineers and the works they carried out are worth exploring from the perspective of the circulation of experts in a global context. A closer look at the patterns of their employment contributes to developing a better understanding of the formation of engineering as a profession in the Ottoman context. This article studies the motives of foreign engineers for moving to the Ottoman lands, the projects they were involved in, their countries of origin and their relationships with local engineers. We argue that the presence of foreign engineers in the Ottoman lands was beneficial to all parties involved. Foreign engineers obtained prestigious jobs and brought with them access to a kind of expertise that distinguished them from their less mobile colleagues. The Ottoman Empire in turn benefited from their work and expertise at many different levels of administration, in public works, in upgrading infrastructure and in education.

© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Munich/Boston
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