page_title: Armenians in the Ottoman Empire
section_title: Ottoman Armenia, 1453–1829
hierarchical_section_title: Armenians in the Ottoman Empire / Ottoman Armenia, 1453–1829
caption_attribution_description: English: This is John Pinkerton's stunning 1818 map of Turkey in Asia. Covers the holdings of the early 19th century Ottoman Empire in Asia, inclusive of modern day Turkey, Iraq, Cyprus, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Area of coverage extends from the Aegean Sea to the Caspian Sea and from the mouth of the Nile and the Dead Sea to the Crimea and the Black Sea. This beautifully rendered map is truly a masterpiece of engraving, with mountain ranges, lakes, deserts, and rivers excited with such precision that the result appears almost three dimensional. Pinkerton injects astounding detail throughout with countless towns, cities, geographical features, rivers, islands and bodies of water noted. Names numerous important sites are named, these include Mt. Ararat, the historic ruined Armenian capital of Ani, the ruined ancient Roman city of Palmyra, the ruins of several castles, etc. Drawn by L. Herbert and engraved by Samuel Neele under the direction of John Pinkerton. This map was issued in the scarce American edition of Pinkerton’s Modern Atlas, published by Thomas Dobson &amp; Co. of Philadelphia in 1818.
context_page_description: Armenians in the Ottoman Empire mostly belonged to either the Armenian Apostolic Church or the Armenian Catholic Church. They were part of the Armenian millet until the Tanzimat reforms in the nineteenth century equalized all Ottoman citizens before the law.
context_section_description: Armenians preserved their culture, history, and language through the course of time, largely thanks to their distinct religious identity among the neighboring Turks and Kurds. Like the Greek Orthodox and Jewish minorities of the Ottoman Empire, they constituted a distinct millet, led by the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople. Under this system, Christians and Jews were considered religious minorities/second-class citizens; they were subjected to elevated taxation, but in return they were granted autonomy within their own religious communities and were exempted from military service. Growing religious and political influence from neighboring communities necessitated implementation of security measures that often required a longer waiting period for minorities to seek legal recourse in the courts. Under Ottoman rule, Armenians formed three distinct millets: Armenian Orthodox Gregorians, Armenian Catholics, and Armenian Protestants (in the 19th century).
  After many centuries of Turkish rule in Anatolia and Armenia (at first by the Seljuks, then a variety of Anatolian beyliks and finally the Ottomans), the centres with a high concentration of Armenians lost their geographic continuity (parts of Van, Bitlis, and Kharput vilayets). Over the centuries, tribes of Turks and Kurds settled into Anatolia and Armenia, which was left severely depopulated by a slew of devastating events such as the Byzantine-Persian Wars, Byzantine-Arab Wars, Turkish Invasions, Mongol Invasions and finally the bloody campaigns of Tamerlane.
  In addition, there were the century-long Ottoman-Persian Wars between the rival empires, the battlegrounds of which ranged over Western Armenia (therefore large parts of the native lands of the Armenians), causing the region and its peoples to be passed between the Ottomans and Persians numerous times. The wars between the arch-rivals started from the early 16th century and lasted till well into the 19th century, having disastrous effects for the native inhabitants of these regions, including the Armenians of Western Armenia.
  Owing to these events, the composition of the population had undergone (ever since the second half of the medieval period) a transformation so profound that the Armenians constituted, over the whole extent of their ancient homeland, no more than a quarter of the total inhabitants. Despite this they kept and defended factual autonomy in certain isolated areas like Sassoun, Shatakh, and parts of Dersim. An Armenian stronghold and a symbol of factual Armenian autonomy, Zeitoun (Ulnia) was located between the Six Vilayets and Cilicia, which also had a strong Armenian presence ever since the creation of the Principality (and then Kingdom) of Lesser Armenia. However, the destruction of the Kingdom by the Ramadanid tribe and the subsequent rule by Muslim powers such as the Dulkadirids, the Mamluks and the Ottomans led to ever increasing numbers of Muslims in the region until finally the genocide removed the remaining vestiges of the Armenian people.
  There were also significant communities in parts of Trebizond and Ankara vilayets bordering Six vilayets (such as in Kayseri). After the Ottoman conquests many Armenians also moved west and settled in Anatolia, in large and prosperous Ottoman cities like Istanbul and Izmir.
caption: Western Armenia on the Ottoman Empire map. John Pinkerton, 1818
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