Widespread of Modern Agricultural Education in the Ottoman Empire: Ankara Model Field and Shepherd School

The first attempts to improve cultivating techniques and increase agricultural productivity in the Ottoman Empire, were introduced during the Tanzimat period. For the success of reforms, Tanzimat statesmen aimed at training or employing experts in every field. In this regard, they employed experienced staffs to implement agricultural reforms and opened the first Agricultural School in Istanbul in 1847. Forty years after the first unsuccessful attempt in Ayamama Farm, during the reign of Abdulhamid II, agricultural schools and model fields were established in a number of provinces according to the new plan prepared by the bureaucrats studying agriculture in France and Germany. One of them was Ankara Model Field and Shepherd School, which was established in 1898 in order to introduce modern agricultural innovations to the farmers of Ankara province, and to improve the Angora goats. In spite of the technical and financial support of the Sublime Porte, the Shepherd School was transformed into Agricultural School, and its fold section was closed in 1908 due to the lack of interest shown by Ankara farmers. The education in the school was interrupted during the WWI, and the building was used as headquarters by Mustafa Kemal after coming to Ankara.