A Survey of Translation Activity in the Ottoman Empire

Abstract

The article surveys the history of translation activity in the Ottoman Em- pire chronologically up until 1882, in order to demonstrate that translation played an integral and vital part of the wider picture of late Ottoman intellectual history. It displays the early translation activities at the Imperial Dîvân and Imperial Fleet, in provinces, foreign embassies and consulates and some translations done under the patronage of the government during the eighteenth century. The article then surveys the nineteenth century translation institutions and the translations produced within those institutions in Istanbul. Next, it provides information about the contribution of learned societies and periodicals to the translation movement. Lastly, the article reviews the nineteenth century translations.