Signs of transition from scholastic thought to the age of Enlightenment in Anatolia in the second half of the nineteenth century: The case of Balıkesir Province

Balıkesir is a province in Western Anatolia, bordered by Manisa and İzmir to the south, the Sea of Marmara and Bursa to the north, the Aegean Sea to the west, and Uşak and Kütahya to the east. Known as Mysia in antiquity, the region has historically exhibited a multilingual, multicultural, multinational, and polyphonic character. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the population of Balıkesir included Muslim Turks, Greeks, Armenians, Bulgarians, and a small number of Jews. The Muslim and Christian communities tended to adhere to religious doctrines and scholastic worldviews. However, the rationalism and scientific inquiry promoted by the European Enlightenment in the eighteenth century did not begin to influence Balıkesir until nearly a century later. This delayed influence manifested in education, publishing, printing, religious perception, and a turn toward new forms of artistic expression. Among the diverse populations, the Greeks of Ayvalık appear to have benefited more substantially from the Enlightenment’s legacy than the Turks and Armenians. Nonetheless, the processes of change and transformation among Muslim Turks and Armenians unfolded in parallel. This article briefly examines the signs of modernization that emerged in Balıkesir under the influence of the European Enlightenment in the late nineteenth century, drawing on sources such as newspapers, sale names, and memoirs.