Ottoman Empire Imperialism

Once the ruler managed to accommodate all the power within his grasp, besides securing and constantly improving the essential within the framework of imperialism military potential, his other task of primary importance for sustaining the imperial integrity was to establish a working system of regional governance, given the fact that the disparate spatial location, resulted in utmost ethnic and religious diversity. Accordingly, this was what also contributed to setting the Ottoman empire apart from its contemporaries, namely, the ubiquitous quasi self-governing administrative system, based on the millet division, which created a clear legal and national identity-based distinction between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities. Moreover, this

According to it the religiously determined groups of Christians (Orthodox, Gregorians, and later Catholics) and Jews were allowed to practice a restricted form of local self-government, under the condition that they paid the respective taxes, did not rebel and respected the “sultan’s suzerainty” . Undoubtedly, in similar fashion to its counterpart, there was significant superiority demonstrated by the Muslim subjects towards the dhimmis (i.e. the Christian and Jew subjects), which were nevertheless looked down upon as “separate, unequal and protected” communities, but in contrast to the imperial tradition, the Ottomans did not rush into undertaking a civilizational mission or project, but rather left the different religious communities to tackle

The two types of legal systems were not mutually conflicting, but rather the aim was that the customary law complemented and filled in the gaps of the religious legislative system . Having laid down on the one hand a diversified regional self-governing system, and on the other hand a working religious and secular legislative framework, coupled with the autocratic authority, exercised by the monarch, contributed to the relative internal balance throughout its Classical Age period. During its existence the millet system proved to be functioning in an efficient symbiosis for both – the subjects and the sovereign for several reasons. Besides contributing to the maintenance of stability, by granting religious minorities the right to manage their main public and private affairs among themselves under the supervision and guidance of appointed by and loyal to the sultan local administrators, they were able to preserve the basic foundations and ties to their national identity, such as