Abstract

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Edirne, a highly developed city in terms of transportation-logistics, communication, and production capabilities of Ottoman Modernism with its proximity to Istanbul, has also attracted attention with its prosperity demography.

The great Edirne fire is worth studying both in terms of the loss of the inventory of traditional housing architecture and the tragedy it creates in social memory. However, there is serious confusion about the dating of that fateful event, which is conspicuous and common in Edirne Urban Research readings. The reasons for the historiographical mistakes made in domestic and international publications constitute our scientific study's main subject. In the study, which will be supported by the archive documents we obtained from the Ottoman Archives of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye Directorate of State Archives, the correct date will be determined by correcting the erroneous historiography made so far on the subject. Through this historical event, the wrong historiography caused by the difference between the Rumi and Hijri calendars in the early 20th century Ottoman Empire will be shown with the example of the Grand Fire of the Edirne.