The publications of the Hakluyt Society (founded in 1846) made available edited (and sometimes translated) early accounts of exploration. The first series, which ran from 1847 to 1899, consists of 100 books containing published or previously unpublished works by authors from Christopher Columbus to Sir Francis Drake, and covering voyages to the New World, to China and Japan, to Russia and to Africa and India. A member of a noble Roman family, Pietro della Valle began travelling in 1614 at the suggestion of a doctor, as an alternative to suicide after a failed love affair. The letters describing his travels in Turkey, Persia and India were addressed to this advisor. This 1664 English translation of della Valle's letters from India, republished by the Hakluyt Society in 1892, contains fascinating ethnographic details, particularly on religious beliefs, and is an important source for the history of the Keladi region of South India.
In the context of globalization, Turkey plays a unique role. Poised both geographically and culturally between Europe and the Middle East, with a formidable political history in both realms and a thri
Recommended an open-air life from an early age as a cure for physical and nervous difficulties, the indefatigable Isabella Bird (1831–1904) toured the United States and Canada, Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, the Far East, India, Turkey, Persia and Kurdistan. Her accounts of her travels, written in the form of letters to her sister, were bestsellers. In 1875 she published her account of six months in the Hawaiian archipelago. During this time she explored the islands on horseback, visiting volcanos, climbing mountains, and living with the natives. The book includes considerable detail about the lifestyles, customs, and habits of the people she encountered, and of the geography and geology of the islands. Her enthusiasm for Hawaii and its people is evident from her vivid descriptions, but she disliked the restrictive atmosphere of the foreign settlements. The book includes outlines of the history and economy of the islands.
This book examines historical evidence from the last 2000 years to analyse earthquakes in the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. Early chapters review techniques of historical seismology, while the main body of the book comprises a catalogue of more than 4000 earthquakes identified from historical sources. Each event is supported by textual evidence extracted from primary sources and translated into English. Covering southern Rumania, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq, the book documents past seismic events, places them in a broad tectonic framework, and provides essential information for those attempting to prepare for, and mitigate the effects of, future earthquakes and tsunamis in these countries. This volume is an indispensable reference for researchers studying the seismic history of the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, including archaeologists, historians, earth scientists, engineers and earthquake hazard analysts. A parametric catalogue of
In this study, Assaf Yasur-Landau examines the early history of the biblical Philistines who were among the 'Sea Peoples' who migrated from the Aegean area to the Levant during the early twelfth century BC. Creating an archaeological narrative of the migration of the Philistines, he combines an innovative theoretical framework on the archaeology of migration with new data from excavations in Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel and thereby reconstructs the social history of the Aegean migration to the southern Levant. The author follows the story of the migrants from the conditions that caused the Philistines to leave their Aegean homes, to their movement eastward along the sea and land routes, to their formation of a migrant society in Philistia and their interaction with local populations in the Levant. Based on the most up-to-date evidence, this book offers a new and fresh understanding of the arrival of the Philistines in the Levant.
This book offers an in-depth account of the failure of popular constitution making in Turkey from 2011 to 2013, which was an anomaly in the otherwise authoritarian history of Turkish constitutional politics. The authors demonstrate that, even in unfavorable conditions, constitution making that brings together different stakeholders can potentially lead to significant improvement of constitutional regimes. Long-standing societal divides regarding cultural and religious diversity, which were evident in political parties' negotiations, played a significant role in the failure of the process in Turkey. Most notably, the ruling AKP's insistence on establishing a presidential system - supported by neither other political parties nor the public - destabilized the process and exacerbated distrust among the drafters. Unfavorable procedures, particularly an unrealistic deadline and the unanimity principle, prevented consensus and allowed the AKP to hijack the process. The process was a missed op
In 1911, Le Corbusier (1887-1965) and his friend August Klipstein (1885-1951), a scholar of art history and later renowned art dealer, undertook a grand tour of Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Turkey, an
For millennia, the land now called Turkey has been at the crossroads of history. A bridge between Europe and Asia, between West and East, between Christianity and Islam, the peninsula also known as An
When Osman, a Turk, met Yiannis, a Greek, by chance, in Izmir--known to Greeks, and to history, as Smyrna--both men still believed, to a greater or lesser extent, the national mythologies of Turkey an
Fethullah Gulen is a Turkish Islamic scholar of the thoroughly jihadist Sufi Ottoman tradition with a controversial history and many followers and admirers in both the Islamic and Western worlds. He i
Bekker-Nielsen (history, University of Southern Denmark) presents a microcosm of an area of the Roman Empire, Bithynia, in what is today western Turkey. He focuses his study on the life of a second-ce
This concise account of the life and career of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881--1938), the formidable "founder of modern Turkey", offers a substantial revaluation of a key figure in modern history, and al
Volume 3 of The Cambridge History of Turkey traces the history of the later Ottoman Empire from the death of Mehmed III in 1603 to the proclamation of the tanzimat, the administrative reconstruction of the Ottoman state, in 1839. This was a period of relative stability when trade between the empire and Europe flourished and, wartime apart, merchants and pilgrims travelled in relative security. However, despite the emphasis on the sultan's role as defender of the faithful and of social order, tensions did exist between the ruling elite in Istanbul and their provincial subjects. This theme is central to the volume. Other sections focus on religious and political groups, women, trade, rural life and, importantly, music, art and architecture. The history emphasises the political, cultural and artistic accomplishments of the Ottomans in the post-classical period, thus challenging traditional notions that this was a period of stagnation.
Written by two of the most eminent Anatolian experts of the day, this book on church history and architecture in Turkey was first published in 1909. Sir William Mitchell Ramsay (1851–1939), Scottish classical scholar and archaeologist, and Gertrude Bell (1868–1926), traveller, archaeologist and diplomatist, joined forces for an expedition investigating the Hittite and Byzantine site of Bin-Bir-Kilisse in Turkey in 1907. Bell was successful in establishing the chronology of Byzantine churches, and her findings constitute the middle two parts of the book, on buildings and ecclesiastical architecture. Ramsay contributed the first and last parts, on the historical and geographical details of the churches and an account of other notable monuments in the region. Ramsay was knighted in 1906 and both scholars were honoured by the Royal Geographical Society. In 1913 Bell became one of the first women to be elected a Fellow of the Society.
Robert Pashley (1805–59) spent 1833–4 exploring Greece and Turkey as a Trinity College, Cambridge Travelling Fellow and contributor to a British survey of the Mediterranean, yet it was the island of Crete that most captivated his attention; his travels there became the subject of this two-volume account, published in 1837. The following year, Pashley's notes, collected artefacts and books were destroyed in a fire, so this work is all that remains from his expedition to the island. Crete at various points in its history had been ruled by Romans, Byzantines, Venetians and Ottomans. At the time of Pashley's arrival it was under Egyptian administration and there were palpable tensions between Christians and Muslims. In Volume 2, Pashley ends his travels in the south-western Samaria region. This volume also includes an appendix of Venetian manuscripts, and economic and demographic statistics from 1834.
Robert Pashley (1805–59) spent 1833–4 exploring Greece and Turkey as a Trinity College, Cambridge Travelling Fellow and contributor to a British survey of the Mediterranean, yet it was the island of Crete that most captivated his attention; his travels there became the subject of this two-volume account, published in 1837. The following year, Pashley's notes, collected artefacts and books were destroyed in a fire, so this work is all that remains from his expedition to the island. Crete at various points in its history had been ruled by Romans, Byzantines, Venetians and Ottomans. At the time of Pashley's arrival it was under Egyptian administration and there were palpable tensions between Christians and Muslims. The lively narrative weaves contemporary observations about Cretans with a discussion of the island's rich history. The second volume also provides an appendix of Venetian manuscripts, and contemporary economic and demographic statistics.
Robert Pashley (1805–59) spent 1833–4 exploring Greece and Turkey as a Trinity College, Cambridge Travelling Fellow and contributor to a British survey of the Mediterranean, yet it was the island of Crete that most captivated his attention; his travels there became the subject of this two-volume account, published in 1837. The following year, Pashley's notes, collected artefacts and books were destroyed in a fire, so this work is all that remains from his expedition to the island. Crete at various points in its history had been ruled by Romans, Byzantines, Venetians and Ottomans. At the time of Pashley's arrival it was under Egyptian administration and there were palpable tensions between Christians and Muslims. In Volume 1, Pashley begins his journey in the western town of Chania, and his lively narrative weaves contemporary observations about Cretans with a discussion of the island's rich history.
This study explores the critical battle of Carrhae, a fascinating tale of treachery, tactics, and topography in which Rome experienced one of its most humiliating defeats.Carrhae is a battle from a heady moment in Roman history – that of the clever carve-up of power by the First Triumvirate of Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great and Marcus Licinius Crassus (the Roman general who had famously put down the Spartacan revolt). Crassus had begun his second consulship (55 BC) with the express aim of going to war with Parthia, and desperately felt the need to gain military glory and popular acclaim to balance that of his two triumvirate rivals. In June 53 BC, he led seven legions, 4,000 lightly armed troops and 4,000 horsemen across the Euphrates, and though soon deserted by his Armenian allies, Crassus continued his advance into unfamiliar, hostile territory. At Carrhae (present-day Harran, Turkey), the scene was set for a Roman military disaster on an epic scale.Classical scholar Nic Fields des
From the Armenian communities of Venice Beach and Paris, to Turkey and Armenia, Deep Mountain is a nuanced and moving exploration of the living history and continuing denial of the Armenian genocide.
In this painstaking iconography, Kuehn compiles an exhaustive survey of the occurrence of dragons in art and architectural decoration in Turkey, especially Anatolia, and stretching east into Central A
