Not sure if historians are the right ppl to ask. I’m searching my ancestry. Particularly between 1890-1920 in lebanon and Egypt. It’s fairly complicated area with the ottoman rule, fall, WW1, and subsequent french mandate. I know ottomans weren’t particularly good at administration. So my question is, are there any archives that contain information such as births/deaths of citizens in these areas during these times ? Thanks 🙏🏼
Yes, the Ottomans kept record of all such information in all it's territories. They are open to access in the State Archives of Turkey But all of them are written in Arabic letters and Ottoman Turkish. It's quite hard to find what you need without expertise of someone who is good at Ottoman Turkish. Also some particular documents in Archives are only available for researchers.