Master Thesis Defense: Merve Uçar Nurcan

Ottoman Response to the Mehdiyya of the Sudan

Merve Uçar Nurcan
History, M.Sc. Thesis, 2015

Thesis Jury
Hakan Erdem(Thesis Supervisor),Akşin Somel, Talha Çiçek, Selim Karakışla(Substitute Member)                     

Date &Time: May,12th, 2015 – 14:00

Place: FASS 2080

Abstract

The aim of the thesis is two-fold. The first one is to draw a comprehensive

picture of the Mahdi revolt from an Ottoman point of view and the second one is to

analyze the Ottoman perception of its distant periphery in the light of Ottoman

colonialism/ orientalism debates. Sudanese Mahdi revolt that was broken out in 1881

is the basic concern of the thesis due to the fact that the Mahdi revolution enables to

discover the regional insurgency opposed to British imperialism and Egyptian

maladministration in the Sudan. Although there are numerous studies regarding the

British and Egyptian policy on the Sudan, the Ottoman perception of the Sudanese

Mahdi had been largely ignored and studies remained limited in the literature. For this

reason, this study also aims to fill the gap and add a contribution to the Ottoman-

African relations from an Ottoman point of view.

There are three decisive features of Abdülhamid’s policy of Sudanese Mahdi

revolt: prevent spreading of revolution, non- intervention and legalism. The reasons of

Abdülhamid’s indecisive attitudes could be explained in three certain points. First,

military and economic resources of the empire were inadequate to afford a campaign

for such a distant place. Second, minor local conflicts could become an excuse for

imperialist powers to intervene in the regions. Last, spreading of any clash to the

Hejaz area could give irreparable damage to the prestige of the Sultan. For these

reasons, Abdülhamid II did not show a hostile attitude towards the local Muslim

rulers or mutineers despite serious pressures and threats come from European powers.