From Istanbul to the End of the World: Ottoman Travel Writings from the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries Writings from the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries
2019
Abstract
The book follows the journeys of Ottoman men and women who traveled in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from Istanbul to the West, mostly to Western Europe, and from Istanbul to the East, to the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire. It examines the images the authors created in their travel books of the places they visited and the inhabitants of these places, and asks whether and how the encounter with a new milieu affected the identity of late Ottoman travelers.
Did they see themselves as subjects of the "Oriental" Ottoman Empire, or as educated representatives of Western civilization? And did the way they perceived themselves differ when they traveled to the East and to the West?