Abdulmejid I was the 31st sultan of the Ottoman Empire and succeeded his father Mahmud II on 2 July 1839.
14 Facts About Abdulmejid I
2.
Abdulmejid I's reign was notable for the rise of nationalist movements within the empire's territories.
3.
Abdulmejid I tried to forge alliances with the major powers of Western Europe, namely the United Kingdom and France, who fought alongside the Ottoman Empire in the Crimean War against Russia.
4.
Abdulmejid I's mother was his father's first wife in 1839, Valide sultan Bezmialem, originally named Suzi, either a Circassian or Georgian slave.
5.
Abdulmejid I received a European education and spoke fluent French, being the first sultan to do so.
6.
Abdulmejid I was the first sultan to directly listen to the public's complaints on special reception days, which were usually held every Friday without any middlemen.
7.
Abdulmejid I toured the empire's territories to see in person how the Tanzimat reforms were being applied.
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Mahmud II 8.
Abdulmejid I travelled to Izmit, Mudanya, Bursa, Gallipoli, Canakkale, Lemnos, Lesbos and Chios in 1844 and toured the Balkan provinces in 1846.
9.
The opponents decided to eliminate Abdulmejid I and put Abdulaziz on the throne in order to prevent the European states from acting like a guardian.
10.
Abdulmejid I's reign started off with the defeat of his forces by the Viceroy of Egypt and the subsequent signing of the Convention of London, which saved his empire from a greater embarrassment.
11.
Abdulmejid I died of tuberculosis at the age of 38 on 25 June 1861 in Istanbul, and was buried in Yavuz Selim Mosque, and was succeeded by his younger half-brother Sultan Abdulaziz, son of Pertevniyal Sultan.
12.
Abdulmejid I had one of the most numerous harem of the dynasty.
13.
Abdulmejid I is known to be the first sultan whose harem was not composed of slave girls but, due to the progressive abolition of slavery in the Ottoman Empire, of girls of free birth, noble or bourgeois, sent to the sultan by the will of the families.
14.
Abdulmejid I had at least twenty-six consorts, but only two were legal wives:.