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| 1840–45 |
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| Political crisis in Lebanon. The defeat of the Egyptian forces in Lebanon in Oct. 1840 brought the downfall of their local ally, the emir Bashir II. Under his incompetent successor, Bashir III, fighting broke out between the Christians and the Druze, driven largely by Druze resentments for their loss of feudal holdings and political influence during the period of Egyptian rule. The Ottomans intervened to depose Bashir III and assert their political supremacy (Jan. 1842), and under pressure from the European powers accepted a plan for communal autonomy by which Mt. Lebanon would be divided into a northern district administered by a Maronite governor (kaymakam) and a southern district administered by a Druze (Dec. 7, 1842). | 1 |
| Continued tensions between the communities erupted in fresh fighting in the spring and summer of 1845, leading the Ottomans to impose a general disarmament of the population and an organic law for the administration of the area (known as the Règlement of Shekib Efendi). The new arrangement, which held until the violent disturbances of 1858–60, provided for representative councils to assist the Druze and the Christian governors, with powers to collect taxes and administer justice. It dealt a blow to the feudal chiefs who had traditionally exercised these powers, and marked a first step toward modernizing Lebanon's administration. | 2 |
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| 1841, July 13 |
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| Convention of London regarding the Straits, signed by the Ottoman Empire and the five great European powers. The Straits were to be closed to all foreign war vessels in time of peace, a regime that survived without major change until World War I. | 3 |
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| 1843 |
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| Reorganization of the army into regional commands for the first time. Five armies, charged respectively with the defense of the capital, eastern Thrace, the Balkans, Anatolia, and the Arab provinces, were created. A sixth army, charged with the defense of Iraq and the Hijaz, was added in 1848. | 4 |
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| 1846 |
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| Death of Hammamizade Ismail Dede Efendi, among the most creative Ottoman musicians of the 19th century. A member of the Mevlevi order, he rose under the patronage of Sultan Selim III and distinguished himself as a singer, flute player, and composer. | 5 |
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| 1847, May 31 |
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| The Treaty of Erzurum with Iran. The agreement defined the frontier between the two countries, which had been the source of recurrent disputes. It took many more years of negotiations and adjustments to establish a precise demarcation, which was formally accepted by both sides in Oct. 1914. | 6 |
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| 1847–90 |
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| SUPPRESSION OF THE SLAVE TRADE. Until the 1840s, slave markets existed in all major cities in the empire, and domestic slavery was common. Over 10,000 slaves were being imported every year, legally and openly. By the 1890s, the slave trade had been effectively suppressed, the result of a series of restrictive government measures taken largely in response to British pressure. An Ottoman decree of Jan. 20, 1847, prohibiting the trade in African slaves at Basra, was followed in the next decade by the prohibition of the Circassian and Georgian slave trade (1854–55) and a general prohibition of the African slave trade throughout the empire, except the Hijaz (decree of Jan. 27, 1857). An Anglo-Ottoman convention for the suppression of the slave trade was concluded on Jan. 25, 1880, and in 1890 the Ottomans joined other countries in signing the Brussels Act against the African slave trade. | 7 |
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| 1848 |
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| Uprisings in Moldavia and Wallachia (See 1848, June), which proclaimed their unity and independence as Romania, and the abolition of feudal privileges (June 21). Ottoman and Russian troops intervened jointly and suppressed the revolt. | 8 |
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| 1850 |
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| Promulgation of the Ottoman Commercial Code, which drew on French law to create rules compatible with international practices. The code was administered by mixed tribunals of Ottoman and European judges. It was revised in 1861. | 9 |
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| Oct. 17–18 |
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| Anti-Christian rioting in Aleppo. Christian neighborhoods were pillaged and several of their residents killed and injured by Muslim mobs resentful of Christian prosperity. | 10 |
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