Abstract

This study aims to rewrite the history of the establishment period of Hamidiye Trade School without overlooking its internal structure, but, at the same time, by giving importance to the global context of the time period that had an impact on the formation of the internal structure. Hamidiye Trade School, which was a higher education institute, was founded by Abdülhamid II in 1882/83 in Istanbul and it has been subjected to several changes during its history. Today, it continues its academic activities under the name of Marmara University, in Istanbul. Preliminary findings suggest that although agency shaped the organizational formation of Hamidiye Trade School in the beginning, later, during the nationalism period with Young Turks, a new mission was appointed to the school and this new mission has institutionalized by blurring the original establishment story of the school. In this process, non-Muslim agents who established the school were muted.