Mekteb-i Aşiret-i Hümayun ();, Imperial Tribal School) or Aşiret Mektebi () was an

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

school founded in 1892 by

Abdulhamid II Abdulhamid II or Abdul Hamid II (; ; 21 September 184210 February 1918) was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1876 to 1909, and the last sultan to exert effective control over the fracturing state. He oversaw a Decline and modernizati ...

to promote the integration of tribes into the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

through education. Abdulhamid's main assistant in this endeavor was

Abdullah bin Abdullah Al Saud Abdullah bin Abdullah Al Saud (; born July 1843), later known as Abdullah Pasha, was a member of the Al Thunayan family, a branch of the House of Saud. He was a son of Abdullah bin Thunayan, Emir of Nejd. Abdullah was born in July 1843, on the ...

, known as Abdullah Pasha Al Saud. The curriculum was heavily biased towards the teaching of

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

, and it also had a strong emphasis on students learning the

Ottoman Turkish language Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register (sociolinguistics), register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian language, Persian. It ...

. After graduation, students were expected to continue education at Mekteb-i Sultani (Imperial High School) and then at Mekteb-i Mülkiye (School of Civil Administration), in order to be able to serve the empire in their native region. Initially only the sons of the

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

sheikh Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to me ...

s and notables were permitted to enroll, however after petitioning by Albanian notables, in 1902 an imperial decree resulted in the enrollment of twenty students from the Albanian cities of Debar, Elbasan, and Yanya. Later

Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

were permitted to enroll also. The school was closed in 1907.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mekteb Asiret Humayun 1892 establishments in the Ottoman Empire 1907 disestablishments in the Ottoman Empire Defunct schools in Turkey Educational institutions disestablished in 1907 Educational institutions established in 1892 Education in Istanbul Education in the Ottoman Empire Religion in the Ottoman Empire