Rumi calendar

History

|The upper left shows the Rumi date in Ottoman Turkish: year 1327, 7 Nisan (٧ نیسان ١٣٢٧) |The same Julian date (7 April, ΑΠΡΙΛΙΟΣ 7) and day (Thursday, Πέμπτη) appears below in Greek with the AD year 1911 |Next to that is the Gregorian date (20 April, AVRIL 20) and day (Jeudi) in French |Above these two is 30 (twice), the number of days in the Julian and Gregorian months; the month (April, Априлий) and day (Thursday, Четвъртъкъ) in Bulgarian |Under the Greek is Armenian, reading April (ԱՊՐԻԼ) and Thursday (ՀԻՆԳՇԱԲԹԻ) |The upper right shows the Islamic date 21 Rebiülahir 1329 (٢١ ربيع الآخر ١٣٢٩) |The Hebrew date 22 Nisan 5671 (5671 ניסן 22) appears at the bottom.}} ]]

In the Islamic state of the Ottoman Empire, the religious Islamic calendar (a lunar calendar) was in use. In this calendar, months coincide with lunar phases. Because a "lunar year" (the combined duration of twelve lunar phases) is shorter than the solar year, the seasons cycle through the lunar months as the solar years pass. As the Astronomical Almanac states: "As a result, the cycle of twelve lunar months regresses through the seasons over a period of about 33 years".

1677 introduction of the fiscal calendar

In 1677, Head Treasurer (, Baş Defterdar) Hasan Pasha under Sultan Mehmed IV proposed the correction of financial records by dropping one year (an escape year) every 33 years, resulting from the difference between the lunar Islamic calendar and the solar Julian calendar.

In 1740 (1152 AH) during the reign of Sultan Mahmud I, March was adopted as the first month of the fiscal year for the payment of taxes and dealings with government officials instead of Muharram following Treasurer Atıf Efendi's proposal.

Proposed by Treasurer Moralı Osman Efendi during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid I, the range of the fiscal calendar applications was extended in 1794 to state expenditures and payments in order to prevent surplus cost arising from the time difference between the Islamic and Julian calendar.

1840 adoption of the Julian calendar

The Julian calendar, used from 1677 AD on for fiscal matters only, was adopted on March 13, 1840 AD (March 1, 1256 AH), in the frame of Tanzimat reforms shortly after the accession to the throne of Sultan Abdülmecid I, as the official calendar for all civic matters and named "Rumi calendar" (literally Roman calendar). However, in 1256 AH the difference between the Hijri and the Gregorian calendars amounted to 584 years. With the change from lunar calendar to solar calendar, the difference between the Rumi calendar and the Julian or Gregorian calendar remained a constant 584 years.

1917 Adoption of the Gregorian calendar

Since the Julian to Gregorian calendar changeover was finally being adopted in neighboring countries, the Rumi calendar was realigned to the Gregorian calendar in February 1917, leaving the difference of 584 years unchanged, however. Thus, after February 15, 1332 AH (February 1917 AD), the next day instead of being February 16 suddenly became March 1, 1333 AH (March 1, 1917 AD). The year 1333 AH (1917 AD) was made into a year with only ten months, running from March 1 to December 31. January 1, AD 1918 thus became January 1, AH 1334. The Rumi calendar remained in use after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire into the first years of the succeeding Republic of Turkey.

1925 discontinuation of the Rumi calendar

The use of the AH era was abandoned as part of Atatürk's reforms by an act of December 26, 1341 AH (1925 AD) and was replaced by the Gregorian year from 1926.

Calendar months

The names of four months that occur in pairs in the Semitic/Arabic naming system (Teşrin-i Evvel, Teşrin-i Sânî and Kânûn-ı Evvel, Kânûn-ı Sânî) were changed on January 10, 1945 to Turkish language names, Ekim, Kasım, Aralık and Ocak, for simplicity. From 1918 the fiscal year has commenced on 1 January. The other months' names were from the Syriac language, except for Mart, Mayıs, and Ağustos, which were derived from Latin.

1917 conversion table

In 1917 (1332–1333), a major calendar reform aligned the Rumi calendar with the Gregorian calendar. This table, adapted from the work of Richard B. Rose, lists the equivalent dates for that year.

Notes

References

References

1. Richards, E. G.. (2012). "Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac". University Science Books.
2. "Takvimler ve Birbirlerine Dönüşümleri – Rumi Takvim". Takvim.
3. "History of the Ottoman Empire – The Ottoman Empire 1839–1861". World History at KMLA.
4. [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1038375/f52.image Revue du monde musulman 43 (1921) p. 47].
5. A. Birken, ''Handbook of Turkish Philately Part I – Ottoman Empire: The Calendar'' (Nicosia, 1995) 11.
6. Georgeon, François. (Spring 2011). "Changes of time: An aspect of Ottoman modernization". New Perspectives on Turkey.
7. (1991). "The Ottoman Fiscal Calendar". Middle East Studies Association Bulletin.