Sultan Abdul Hamid II’s humanitarian aid to the United States of America, 1894
An original document was recently uncovered in the Ottoman Yıldız Archive outlining the humanitarian aid that Sultan Abdulhamid II provided to the American people during the Great Hinckley Fire of 1894.
In the document, addressed to the Ottoman Grand Vizier, Sultan Abdulhamid II has recently received news of the Great Hinckley Fire which has devastated thousands, and has taken the lives of hundreds of people in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Upon hearing of this, the Sultan orders that 300 Ottoman gold Liras be distributed to the people of the region, and that his intent was for this aid to reach them immediately, without delay. At the time, that much money would have been able to purchase 60 mid-sized homes in the most expensive part of Istanbul.
The text of the order from the Archives read as follows:
“It is the will of Sultan Abdulhamid II that the Ottoman State sends 300 Liras in aid to those in the Northwestern region of America who have been affected by the forest fire. The order has been communicated to the Ottoman Treasury and Foreign Affairs Officials. In the official communication from the office of the Grand Vizier numbered 1775, on September 9th, 1894, a note has been made from the accounting department that the amount is to be paid from the Treasury. That being said, any financial aid requests to the Ministry of the Interior have been exhausted for the current year, and as such, with regards to the financial aid in question, we give permission for the amount to be added to this year’s budget, even though it may it may cause a small deficit.”
The second document is a communication from the Ottoman Washington Embassy, which states:
“We are translating telegraph #225 that has been received from the US Washington Embassy, which is a note from the Mayor of New York, where he conveys his deepest gratitude to our Sultan Abdulhamid Han for his generosity and benevolence towards the people who have seen damage to their properties and to families who have lost loved ones. He has also said that all of the newspapers in America have been reporting on the generous gift of our Sultan.”
Sultan Abdul Majid I’s humanitarian aid to Ireland, 1845
In 1845, the onset of the Great Irish Famine resulted in over a million deaths. Ottoman Sultan Caliph Abdul-Majid I declared his intention to send £10,000 sterling to Irish farmers but Queen Victoria requested that the Sultan send only £1,000 sterling, because she had sent only £2,000 sterling herself.
The Sultan sent the £1,000 sterling but also secretly sent 3 ships full of food. The English courts tried to block the ships, but the food arrived in Drogheda harbor and was left there by Ottoman sailors.
The Irish sent the following letter in gratitude to the Caliph of the Ottoman Islamic state:
“We the noblemen, gentlemen and inhabitants of Ireland want to express our thank and gratitude for the Ottoman Sultan’s munificent assistance due to the disaster of dearth. It is unavoidable for us to appeal the assistance of other countries in order to be saved from the enduring threat of death and famine. The Ottoman Sultan’s munificent response to this aid call displays an example to European States. Numbers were relieved and saved from perishing through this timely act. We express our gratitude on their behalf and hope that the Ottoman Sultan and his dominions will be saved from the afflictions which have befallen us.”
Today, an Irish football club called Drogheda United FC bears the Ottoman crescent and star in commemoration of the Ottoman aid that was delivered to its town.
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