A Micro History Essay from the Perspective of Daily and Social Lives: A Glance at the 19th Century Istanbul Streets from Şinasi’s Pen

Abstract

Şinasi is a model of the new intellectuals, and he wrote in his articles, published in Tasvir-i Efkâr, the 19th century changes in Istanbul. Having written about from what he saw in the streets to the wooden materials used in city's architecture, he reflects his imagination of a city on European model, and a daily life according to the requirements of the age. Taking a glance at the streets of İstanbul and making the assessments about what he has seen, he focuses on the lightening and widening of the streets, assistance to those in need, beggars, stray dogs in detail. He makes suggestions for street lightening and cleaning in İstanbul, one of the well-known world cities, situated between Asia and Europe; but his proposals reflect the Tanzimat dualism and his suggestions do not come to life, and remain as his observations. In this study, we attempt to take a look at the 19th century social life at the streets of İstanbul via Şinasi's articles. We believe, this would reflect the worldview of the era, the requirements of the age, the inevitable changes in the city. We also try to show the intellectual difficulty of Şinasi, who wanted to be Modernized on the one hand, but who could not leave aside his traditional values, on the other. We would like to express once more by this study that we understood well how difficult it is to put those theoretical into practice.