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| 1825, June 10 |
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| Abolition of the English Levant Company, by act of Parliament. The final removal of this commercial monopoly opened up the trade of the eastern Mediterranean to a wider circle of merchants and transferred responsibility for the appointment and payment of British consular representatives from the company to the government. | 1 |
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| 1826, June 15 |
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| DESTRUCTION OF THE JANISSARIES. Troops loyal to the sultan bombarded the Janissary barracks in Istanbul, killing several thousand soldiers inside. The corps was abolished, its garrisons in the provinces were disbanded, and the way was opened to establish new military units and institutions. The episode represented a watershed in the state's struggle to break the obstacles to modernization and became celebrated in Ottoman history as the Auspicious Event (vakayi hayriye). | 2 |
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| 1828 |
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| The fez (a rimless cap of North African origin) was officially adopted as the modern headgear of the army. A year later modern clothing and the fez were made compulsory also for government servants, with turbans and robes allowed only for the clergy. | 3 |
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| 1828–1914 |
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| The development of steam navigation. A British steamer reached Izmir and Istanbul in 1828, inaugurating the expansion of steam navigation into the region. By 1837 the British, French, and Austrians had regular services in the eastern Mediterranean, supplemented in subsequent years by Ottoman, Italian, and Russian lines. The Suez Canal, opened in 1869, gave a great stimulus to steam navigation by cutting dramatically the distances from European ports to India and the Far East. Steamers rapidly took over the region's commerce, and by 1914 had almost completely displaced the sailing ships, which became confined to coastal trade and a few bulk goods like coal. This technological improvement in sea transport reduced the traveling time between the Middle East and Europe by one-half to two-thirds, promoting the region's foreign trade and increasing greatly the flow of people and ideas. | 4 |
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| 1829, Sept. 14 |
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| The Treaty of Adrianople, concluding the Russian-Ottoman war of 1828–29. Russia, whose forces had advanced as far as Adrianople, abandoned most of its conquests in Europe. It made some gains at the mouth of the Danube, and acquired substantial territories in the Caucasus, Georgia, and eastern Anatolia. The Ottomans recognized the autonomy of Serbia and agreed to the removal of their troops except for the frontier garrisons and the ending of Ottoman collection of taxes in return for Serbian payment of a fixed annual tribute to the sultan. They also accepted the autonomy of the Principalities under Russian protection and the autonomy of Greece (which achieved full independence in 1830). Russia was granted the same capitulatory rights enjoyed by the subjects of other European states. | 5 |
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| 1830, July 5 |
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| Surrender of Algiers to the French marked the beginning of the French occupation of Algeria. Although formally part of the Ottoman domains, the province was at the time autonomous. Istanbul protested the occupation but did not break its ties with France. | 6 |
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| Aug |
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| The sultan recognized the hereditary rule of Milosh Obrenovich in Serbia and agreed to give him six additional districts from the provinces of Vidin and Bosnia. The Serbs occupied these areas in 1833, increasing the size of their country by one-third. | 7 |
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