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In 1863, after his accession to the throne, Sultan Abdul Hamid embarked on his first great journey, which took him to Egypt. He was accompanied by his three nephews, one of whom, the future Sultan Abdul Hamid II, happily declared after his first train ride from Alexandria and Cairo: “I hope the railroad will also come to us one day!” At that time, however, Egypt was still part of the Ottoman Empire, at least on paper. Three years later, the wish came true, for after completion of the line between İzmir (Alsancak) and Aydın, the railroad had also reached “us.”

The reason for its construction, for which the British Ottoman Railway Company was responsible, was mainly the tobacco trade. Abdul Hamid was a heavy smoker. Anyone who asks whether it is acceptable for the ruler of a vast empire not only to have a childlike devotion to trains, but also to be addicted to cigarettes, should be reminded that neither tobacco nor railroads are forbidden in Islam. Discussions of tobacco’s harmful potential were more related to the fear that, in smoky coffeehouses, people could make fun of the sultan and conspire politically. Ottoman harem women spent the whole blessed day smoking long tobacco pipes. Next time, I will explain why Abdul Hamid had the Baghdad Railway built by the Germans and which cigarettes he smoked with his daughter Ayşe. Incidentally, the introduction of the railroad gave rise to the pocket watch among the Ottomans, and the old world with its candelabras and candles came to an end.