1 Budju Algeria Silver Mahmud II

1825, Algeria (Ottoman), Mahmud II. Nice Silver Budju Coin

Reference: KM-68.

Denomination: 1 Budju

Mind Year: 1825 (AH 1240)

Material: Silver (.850)

Diameter: 30mm

Weight: 10gm 

Mahmud II (Ottoman Turkish: محمود ثانى, romanized: Maḥmûd-u s̠ânî, Turkish: II. Mahmud; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. Often described as “Peter the Great of Turkey”, Mahmud instituted extensive administrative, military, and fiscal reforms which culminated in the Decree of Tanzimat (“reorganization”) that was carried out by his successors. His disbandment of the conservative Janissary corps removed a major obstacle to his and his successors' reforms in the Empire. Mahmud’s reign was also marked by further Ottoman military defeat and loss of territory as a result of nationalist uprisings and European intervention.

Mahmud ascended the throne following a 1808 coup which deposed his half-brother Mustafa IV. Early in his reign, the Ottoman Empire ceded Bessarabia to Russia at the end of the 1806–1812 Russo-Turkish War. Greece waged a successful war of independence that started in 1821 with British, French and Russian support, and Mahmud was forced to recognize the independent Greek state in 1832. The Ottomans lost more territory to Russia after the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829, and Ottoman Algeria was conquered by France beginning in 1830.

The Empire’s continued decline convinced Mahmud to resume the reforms that were halted before he came to power. His reign was characterized by a major interest in Westernization; institutions, palace order, daily life, clothing, music and many other areas saw radical reform as the Ottoman Empire opened up to the modernization. In 1826, he orchestrated the Auspicious Incident, in which the Janissary corps were forceably abolished and many of its members executed, paving the way for the establishment of a modern Ottoman Army and further military reforms. Mahmud also made sweeping changes to the bureaucracy in order to reestablish royal authority and increase administrative efficiency, and oversaw a reorganisation of the Ottoman foreign office. In 1839, Mahmud introduced a Council of Ministers. He died of tuberculosis later that year and was succeeded by his son Abdulmejid I, who would continue to implement his modernization efforts.