Page 174 - Çevre Şehir ve İklim Dergisi - Sayı 3

ABSTRACT
Water, which is the source of life for all living things on the planet, has a much greater and different
meaning for human beings. So much so that all societies that have lived and continued throughout
history have positioned their living centers accordingly, taking the presence of water as a reference,
and have made efforts to the extent of their potential for the sustainability of the situation provided.
In this respect, the fact that they did not hesitate even to fight with each other is another proof of
the importance of water. A factor that has taken such a place in the existence of societies has
touched every aspect of life, enriched with each passing time and formed the culture that is called
with its own name. In fact, countries have defined their level of development as equivalent to the
richness of water culture. One of the important civilizations where this culture was exhibited with
its exemplary and sensitive approaches in every region it conquered was the Ottoman Empire
with its rightful and deep-rooted past in history. The water issue, which was evaluated with special
importance due to the belief-based approach of the Ottomans within the framework of the phrase
“…We created everything that is alive from water…” in the 30th verse of Surah Anbiya in the
Qur’an, has been instrumental in being referred to as the “water civilization”. . The Ottoman
Empire, which showed exemplary role models in many areas from water-related structures to
water protection, from water architecture to the culture of foundation understanding, constituted
the main axis of the study. In this context, from the perspective of “environmental history”, archival
records and sources related to the subject were researched, and important approaches to water
were discussed in the study with interpretations of a message to the present.

Keywords: Ottoman Empire, Water, Water Civilization, Sustainability, Approaches

Makale Atıf Bilgisi: Makale Atıf Bilgisi: Yenigün, İ.- Balcı, V.-Yenigün, A. ve Uyanık,
S.(2023). “Çevre Tarihi Perspektifinden Sürdürülebilir Su
Yönetiminde Örnek Medeniyet: Osmanlı Devleti”. Çevre, Şehir ve
İklim Dergisi. Yıl: 2. Sayı: 3. ss. 158-172.
Makale Türü: Araştırma
Geliş Tarihi: 07.09.2022
Kabul Tarihi: 10.11.2022
Yayın Tarihi: 31.01.2023
Yayın Sezonu: Ocak 2022

Yıl 2 / Sayı 3 / Ocak 2023 159