Tanzimat

Abdulmecid I (1823-1861) became Ottoman sultan at sixteen and presided over the Tanzimat, the empire's most sweeping programme of legal and administrative reform. He issued the Edict of Gulhane in 1839, survived the Crimean War, and fathered four future sultans.

The Ottoman Empire ruled for over 600 years, spanning three continents at its height. Founded by Osman I in 1299 CE, it became one of history's most powerful empires, serving as the seat of the Islamic Caliphate from 1517 until 1922.