Rumeli Railway estates in the historical peninsula in the light of archival documents; Sirkeci example

This study aims to examine the impact of the Rumeli Railway, built by the Ottoman Empire in the second half of the 19th century, on the transformation of the urban space in the Sirkeci District by evaluating the cooperation and conflicts between the state, foreign investors, and local actors and the political, social, and urban spatial effects of the construction process. The Industrial Revolution began a process of major changes and reforms across the world. These changes led to radical reform worldwide while closing and opening an era in economic, social, and technological terms. The revolution first started in the UK and then spread to Northern Europe and North America. Steam-powered machines and vehicles are among the reasons for the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The discovery of steam-powered trains made the construction of railways essential. The Ottoman Empire also made use of this innovation and built the Rumeli Railway in the second half of the 19th century. As the majority of the railways were built by the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century, the Rumeli Railway was funded by foreign investors; many written sources describing the processes of obtaining their privileges, plan projects describing the construction processes, and many official correspondences describing the events during the construction process are available in the Turkish Republic Presidency State Ottoman Archives (OA). This study examines the expropriation processes carried out in the historical peninsula in the Sirkeci District during the construction of the Rumeli Railway in the light of archival documents.