Çukurova Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi

Öz

Electricity, which began to be used in the Ottoman Empire simultaneously with European countries, was widespread throughout the empire in the 20th century. It has become widespread since the beginning of the century. By this century, electricity was also used for transportation purposes through electric trams. Naturally, this situation led to an increase in the population benefiting from electricity. To respond to this increasing demand, the Empire defined the people's right to benefit from electricity and electric trams as a public service. In most places, private entrepreneurs took an active role in providing this service. However, towards the last periods of the empire and within the framework of the nationalization policy initiated in the economy in the first years of the Republic, privately owned electricity and electric tram enterprises began to be taken under the auspices of municipalities. An example of electricity and electric tram operation, which started with private capital but later came under the control of the municipality, was seen in the city of Adana. In this context, in this study, in which all developments regarding the electricity and electric tram operation used for the illumination of the city of Adana are discussed, archive documents as well as press archives and research-review works were used as sources.