ABSTRACT
The chapter provides an outline of the main features of the social, economic and political condition of the Near East in 1800 and a sketch of the principal changes which took place during the course of the period down to 1923. The term 'Near East' appeared towards the end of the nineteenth century, when it was used as a convenient expression to describe the Ottoman empire and the territories which had until recently formed part of it. The principle of self-determination which was introduced into the Near East, even attenuated as it was by the interests and ambitions of the European powers and the resistance of Near Eastern people, had a revolutionary impact upon the region. The Christian and Jewish communities of the Ottoman empire were organized in so-called millets and that the Ottoman government dealt with each millet through its hierarchical head. The iltizam, which most common in the Arab provinces of the Ottoman empire, was a tax farm.
