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This collection of travel narratives, primarily from the nineteenth century, describes the topography, antiquities and inhabitants of the Middle East, from Turkey, Kurdistan and Persia to Mesopotamia, Syria, Jerusalem, Sinai, Egypt and Arabia. While some travellers came to study Christian sites and manuscripts, others were fascinated by Islamic culture and still others by the remains of ancient civilizations. Among the authors are several daring female explorers.

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87 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Travel, Middle East and Asia Minor

Page 4 of 5

A Ride to Khiva
  • Travels and Adventures in Central Asia
  • Fred Burnaby
  • Published online:
    05 October 2012
    Print publication:
    15 December 2011
    First published in:
    1876
  • It is 1875, the time of the 'Great Game', when the British and Russian Empires are vying for power in central Asia. A British officer rides for Khiva, a Russian city closed to European travellers. He is on a dangerous mission, to learn if Russia plans to invade India, the 'jewel in the crown' of the British Empire. It might be the plot of a Rudyard Kipling novel; instead it is the true story of Captain Frederick Burnaby (1842–85). Burnaby joined the British army in 1859, but in periods without active duty he crafted his own adventures. He ballooned across the English Channel, travelled in Spain and Russia, and was wounded, and eventually killed, fighting for Britain's empire. This account of his perilous journey to Khiva, published in 1876 and immediately reprinted, brought him instant fame. The book includes maps of the route he took and an appendix.

A Ride through Asia Minor and Armenia
  • Giving a Sketch of the Characters, Manners, and Customs of Both the Mussulman and Christian Inhabitants
  • Henry C. Barkley
  • Published online:
    05 September 2012
    Print publication:
    15 December 2011
    First published in:
    1891
  • Henry C. Barkley (c.1825–c.1895) was a civil engineer and author. His travel books included Between the Danube and the Black Sea (1876), which covers the five years in which he was working on the construction of a railway line linking the Danube and the Black Sea, and Bulgaria before the War (1877), written at the time of the Russo-Turkish war. (He also wrote a guide to rat-catching for public-school boys, and My Boyhood (1877), a collection of tales from his own childhood.) Published in 1891, this work recounts the author's adventures on a journey that took him in 1878 from Bucharest, through Istanbul, across Asia Minor and back to Trebizond (now Trabzon) on the Black Sea coast, a distance of 1400 miles, completed in 96 days. He describes with zest and humour the habits and customs of Christian and Muslim communities that he encounters on the way.

Travels in Syria and the Holy Land
  • John Lewis Burckhardt
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    02 June 2011
    First published in:
    1822
  • John Lewis Burckhardt (1784–1817) was a Swiss explorer who is best remembered for his rediscovery of the ancient city of Petra in modern Jordan. In 1809 he was commissioned by the African Association to discover the source of the River Niger. In preparation for this journey, for which he needed to pass as a Muslim, Burckhardt spent two years exploring and studying Arabic and Islamic law in Aleppo, before travelling widely in Arabia and Egypt. First published in 1822, this book provides 'a view of Arabian life and manners in every degree, from the Bedouin camp to the populous city', but the most striking passages describe the ruins of Petra, and especially its sumptuously carved Nabataean tombs. Burckhardt also records his frustration at not being able to explore freely and make notes, but these activities would have laid him open to suspicion of being a spy or an infidel, and almost certain death.

Travels in Arabia
  • Comprehending an Account of Those Territories in Hadjaz which the Mohammedans Regard as Sacred
  • Volume 1
  • John Lewis Burckhardt
  • Edited by William Ouseley
  • Published online:
    05 March 2012
    Print publication:
    25 November 2010
    First published in:
    1829
  • John Lewis Burckhardt (1784–1817) was a Swiss explorer who is best remembered for his rediscovery of the ancient city of Petra in modern Jordan. In 1809 he was commissioned by the African Association to discover the source of the River Niger. In preparation for this journey, for which he needed to pass as a Muslim, Burckhardt spent two years exploring and studying Arabic and Islamic law in Aleppo, before travelling widely in Arabia and Egypt. These volumes, first published by the African Association in 1829, contain his account of the time he spent in Mecca and Medina: he was the first westerner to give an account of the Hajj pilgrimage. The work provides important and fascinating descriptions of the social, economic and political situation in Mecca and Medina during this period. Volume 1 describes the city of Mecca.

Account of the Kingdom of Caubul, and its Dependencies in Persia, Tartary, and India
  • Comprising a View of the Afghaun Nation, and a History of the Dooraunee Monarchy
  • Mountstuart Elphinstone
  • Published online:
    05 December 2011
    Print publication:
    02 June 2011
    First published in:
    1815
  • Mountstuart Elphinstone (1779–1859) was a Scottish diplomat and colonial administrator. After joining the civil service of the East India Company in 1796 he was appointed the first British envoy to the Court of Kabul in 1808. In 1819 he was appointed the Governor of Bombay, and after his retirement in 1827 he devoted his life to historical and literary studies. First published in 1815, this volume contains Elphinstone's detailed description of the Kingdom of Afghanistan. Elphinstone describes the geography, economy and political situation of the kingdom and provides a brief account of Afghan history. He also gives the first detailed ethnographic accounts of the various Afghan tribes and ethnic groups in the kingdom. This fascinating volume informed British military and diplomatic policy in the region until the 1840s, and remained the main source of information on the culture of the Afghan tribes for much of the nineteenth century.

Travels in Arabia
  • Comprehending an Account of Those Territories in Hadjaz which the Mohammedans Regard as Sacred
  • Volume 2
  • John Lewis Burckhardt
  • Edited by William Ouseley
  • Published online:
    25 October 2011
    Print publication:
    25 November 2010
    First published in:
    1829
  • John Lewis Burckhardt (1784–1817) was a Swiss explorer who is best remembered for his rediscovery of the ancient city of Petra in modern Jordan. In 1809 he was commissioned by the African Association to discover the source of the River Niger. In preparation for this journey, for which he needed to pass as a Muslim, Burckhardt spent two years exploring and studying Arabic and Islamic law in Aleppo, before travelling widely in Arabia and Egypt. These volumes, first published by the African Association in 1829, contain his account of the time he spent in Mecca and Medina: he was the first westerner to give an account of the Hajj pilgrimage. The work provides important and fascinating descriptions of the social, economic and political situation in Mecca and Medina during this period. Volume 2 describes the city of Medina.

Travels in Arabia Deserta
  • Volume 2
  • Charles Montagu Doughty
  • Published online:
    25 October 2011
    Print publication:
    17 June 2010
    First published in:
    1888
  • Western exploration of the Arabian Desert began in the mid-eighteenth century, but it was not until the nineteenth century that the British officers of the Indian colonial government undertook surveys of the areas remote from the major pilgrimage routes. Charles Doughty (1843–1926) spent two years among various nomad tribes and wrote in 1888 what would be the first comprehensive Western work on the geography of Arabia, in an attempt, as he says in the preface, to 'set forth faithfully some parcel of the soil of Arabia smelling of sàmn and camels'. His classic and justly famous account is a fantastic piece of travel writing that shows full understanding of the area, the people and all aspects of nomadic life in the desert.

The History of Persia
  • From the Most Early Period to the Present Time
  • Volume 2
  • John Malcolm
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    30 June 2011
    First published in:
    1815
  • The product of a lifetime spent in India and the Middle East, for over a century this two-volume work by Sir John Malcolm (1769-1833), first published in 1815, remained the most trusted chronicle of Persia. Translated into French, German and Persian, the detailed and diverse contents earned its diplomat author an honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Oxford. Although learned, Malcolm's narrative is informed by personal experiences acquired while serving as an envoy and secretary to the governor general, a position which clearly shaped his views on the country's political character. Volume 2 begins with an account of the rulers of the early eighteenth century and goes on to provide a detailed history of modern Persia, incorporating descriptions of its religions, government, climate and social conventions. Malcolm's concluding remarks are both critical and portentous as he observes the needs for a 'complete alteration' in the political condition of Persia.

The History of Persia
  • From the Most Early Period to the Present Time
  • Volume 1
  • John Malcolm
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    30 June 2011
    First published in:
    1815
  • The product of a lifetime spent in India and the Middle East, for over a century this two-volume work by Sir John Malcolm (1769–1833), first published in 1815, remained the most trusted chronicle of Persia. Translated into French, German and Persian, the detailed and diverse contents earned its diplomat author an honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Oxford. Although learned, Malcolm's narrative is informed by personal experiences acquired while serving as an envoy and secretary to the governor general, a position which clearly shaped his views on the country's political character. Volume 1 'commences in the fabulous ages', and covers the period from the ancient dynasties of Paishdadian and Kaianian, until the reign of Mahmood in the early eighteenth century.

Modern Egypt
  • Evelyn Baring
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    23 December 2010
    First published in:
    1910
  • Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer (1841–1917), was a British statesman and colonial administrator. After a successful career in the War Office he was appointed the Controller General of Egypt in 1879. After the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War, Baring became Consul General of Egypt, a position he held until his resignation in 1907. Modern Egypt, published in 1908 and revised in 1910, can be regarded as his justification for his actions in Egypt, and has been described as 'one of the classic works of Victorian imperialist writing'. It explains why Britain became involved in Egypt, when the collapse of the economy threatened the political stability of the region. Subsequently Britain and France took dual control, to keep Ottoman Turkey out, and to protect access to the Suez Canal. Cromer was an influential player in the events he describes, and, allowing for bias, the book remains a valuable record.

Travels in the East
  • Constantin von Tischendorf
  • Translated by W. E. Shuckard
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    17 June 2010
    First published in:
    1847
  • This work, first published in 1847, is an account by Constantin von Tischendorf (1815–74) of his journeying in the Middle East at the beginning of the 1840s. It is part travel log and part account of the Christian history of the area. After encounters with such men as Mehmet Ali and Ibrahim Pasha, he visits the library of the Patriarch of Alexandria. The German biblical scholar then travels to the monastery of Saint Catherine on Mount Sinai, where he makes the extraordinary discovery of a previously unknown fourth-century manuscript, one of the main witnesses to the Septuagint, before reaching the main goal of his long journey - Jerusalem. This lively narrative by a controversial scholar-explorer also entertains the reader with some of the more unexpected elements of his travels, such as an attack by robbers who are routed when he draws his sword.

The Desert and the Sown
  • Gertrude Lowthian Bell
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    28 October 2010
    First published in:
    1907
  • Athletic, intellectual and sensitive, even in her youth, Gertrude Bell was an ideal chronicler for a public fascinated by the Orient. Blending descriptions of customs, communities, archaeology, agriculture, The Desert and the Sown (1907) recounts a dramatic portion of her expedition across Syria. Enriched by over three hundred photographic illustrations, Bell's prose leads readers from the Mosque of 'Umar to the shores of the Dead Sea, the Castle of Salkhad and the dramatic landmarks of Kanawāt. Notwithstanding the inclusion of such picturesque sites, the author never allows the spectacular to overshadow the significant. As she herself professed, her narrative contains frequent references to the 'conditions of unimportant persons', arguing that 'they do not appear so unimportant to one who is in their midst'. As such, this volume reflects a compassionate and respectful attitude to other civilizations, the implications of which are as significant today as they were to Bell's contemporaries.

Sketches of Persia
  • From the Journals of a Traveller in the East
  • Volume 2
  • John Malcolm
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    02 June 2011
    First published in:
    1827
  • Sketches of Persia, although published anonymously in 1827, is attributed to Sir John Malcolm (1769–1833). Malcolm was a diplomat and administrator in India: arriving at the age of fourteen in 1783 to work for the East India Company, he was known during his long career as 'Boy' Malcolm. He swiftly moved into more political and diplomatic roles. He became fluent in Persian and was despatched to Persia for part of his career, though he would eventually return to India and become Governor of Bombay (1827–1830). Volume 2 begins on the edge of the desert in Cashan and ends in Sennah. Along the way, Malcolm observes Persian life and customs, and describes his many encounters, which give a vivid picture of society in Persia during this period, including a magnificent reception at court in Tehran where he meets the king, who is dripping with jewels 'of an extraordinary size'.

Sketches of Persia
  • From the Journals of a Traveller in the East
  • Volume 1
  • John Malcolm
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    02 June 2011
    First published in:
    1827
  • Sketches of Persia, although published anonymously in 1827, is attributed to Sir John Malcolm (1769–1833). Malcolm was a diplomat and administrator in India: arriving at the age of fourteen in 1783 to work for the East India Company, he was known during his long career as 'Boy' Malcolm. He swiftly moved into more political and diplomatic roles. He became fluent in Persian and was despatched to Persia for part of his career, though he would eventually return to India and become Governor of Bombay (1827–1830). In Volume 1 of Sketches, Malcolm starts the journey from Bombay, sailing into the Persian Gulf, arriving at Abusheher, where he stays many weeks. From there his party moves inland into the mountains, and finally reaches Shiraz and then Persepolis. Throughout his journey, Malcolm fills this work with his observations about the people he meets, and recounts Persian folk stories and fables.

Records of Travels in Turkey, Greece, etc., and of a Cruize in the Black Sea, with the Capitan Pasha, in the Years 1829, 1830, and 1831
  • Volume 1
  • Adolphus Slade
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    17 February 2011
    First published in:
    1832
  • Described by one commentator as 'a man of sterling common sense, intellectual rigour and ability', the distinguished naval officer Sir Adolphus Slade (1804–1877) was one of the best-informed and engaging travel writers of the nineteenth century. Later in his career he was to spend 17 years on secondment to the Turkish navy, heading its administration and improving its efficiency, but already in his twenties, having served in Russia and South America, he was keen to commit his observations of foreign lands to paper. First published in 1832, Slade's two-volume account of his travels in the Mediterranean and Turkey responded to the public's appetite for colourful chronicles. It contains descriptions of fashions, superstitions, dignitaries and despots, and covers topics ranging from antiquities and architecture to piracy and cricket. Volume 1 describes the early part of his journey, including his impressions of the Bosporus, the Danube delta and Sevastopol.

Letters from Egypt, 1863–65
  • Lucie Duff Gordon
  • Edited by Sarah Austin
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    09 December 2010
    First published in:
    1865
  • Lucie Duff Gordon (1821–1869) was a translator and travel writer. Forced to leave England in 1851 due to tuberculosis, she went first to South Africa and then to Egypt. Her letters home were published, with considerable success. She writes with great feeling about the ordinary life of the Egyptians: her interest in and sympathy with them is clear, and her great affection for them led to criticism of the derogatory way in which many western visitors regarded them. But she was also highly critical of the effects of western influence on them, and her comments about the Suez Canal project and new railroads being achieved by forced labour and high taxes were not well received: some of her political opinions were removed from subsequent editions. This volume, first published in 1865, was edited by her mother, also a writer, and covers the years 1862–1865, including her voyage out.

Records of Travels in Turkey, Greece, etc., and of a Cruize in the Black Sea, with the Capitan Pasha, in the Years 1829, 1830, and 1831
  • Volume 2
  • Adolphus Slade
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    17 February 2011
    First published in:
    1832
  • Described by one commentator as 'a man of sterling common sense, intellectual rigour and ability', the distinguished naval officer Sir Adolphus Slade (1804–1877) was one of the best-informed and engaging travel writers of the nineteenth century. Later in his career he was to spend 17 years on secondment to the Turkish navy, heading its administration and improving its efficiency, but already in his twenties, having served in Russia and South America, he was keen to commit his observations of foreign lands to paper. First published in 1832, Slade's two-volume account of his travels in the Mediterranean and Turkey responded to the public's appetite for colourful chronicles. It contains descriptions of fashions, superstitions, dignitaries and despots, and covers topics ranging from antiquities and architecture to piracy and cricket. Volume 2 includes Slade's impressions of the Tartars, the Cossacks, the plague, Constantinople, and the habits of Muslim women.

Last Letters from Egypt
  • To Which are Added Letters from the Cape
  • Lucie Duff Gordon
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    09 December 2010
    First published in:
    1875
  • Lucie Duff Gordon (1821–1869) was a translator and travel writer. Forced to leave England in 1851 due to tuberculosis, she went first to South Africa and then to Egypt. Her letters home were published with considerable success. She writes with great feeling about the ordinary life of the Egyptians: her interest in and sympathy with them is clear, and her affection for them led her to criticise the derogatory way in which many western visitors regarded them. This second, posthumous volume (the first, Letters from Egypt, 1863-65, is also reissued in this series) contains not only the letters from the latter half of her time in Egypt, but also her letters from the Cape, and a memoir by her daughter, Janet Ross.

The Historical Geography of Asia Minor
  • W. M. Ramsay
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    24 June 2010
    First published in:
    1890
  • The archaeologist and New Testament scholar William Mitchell Ramsay (1851–1939) first published The Historical Geography of Asia Minor in 1890, pioneering the study of classical topography. The book, based on his extensive fieldwork, is split into two parts. Part 1 examines the trade routes and road systems - both Roman and Byzantine - of Asia Minor. It discusses Hellenism and Orientalism and assesses the reliability of ancient topographical accounts of the area, including the Peutinger Table, the itineraries and a number of Ptolemy's geographical comments. Part 2 examines the political divisions of Asia Minor into cities and bishoprics. A number of maps and tables are included. Ramsay's authoritative survey opened up the historical study of the geography and topography of Asia Minor in many disciplines. His work has been used widely by archaeologists, classicists, and New Testament scholars. Still not fully superseded, it remains a key text in historical geography.

Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys
  • Collected During His Travels in the East
  • Volume 2
  • John Lewis Burckhardt
  • Edited by William Ouseley
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    25 November 2010
    First published in:
    1830
  • John Lewis Burckhardt (1784–1817) was a Swiss explorer who is best remembered for his rediscovery of the ancient city of Petra, in Jordan. In 1809 he was commissioned by the African Association to discover the source of the River Niger. In preparation for this journey, for which he needed to pass as a Muslim, Burckhardt spent two years exploring and studying Arabic in Aleppo, before travelling widely in Arabia and Egypt. These volumes, first published in 1830, contain Burckhardt's description of Bedouin society and his history of the Wahhabi sect of Islam. He describes the different Bedouin tribes of Arabia and the Middle East and their political allegiances, and recounts in fascinating detail aspects of their society. He also narrates the history of the Wahhabi sect from its founding, and discusses its effect on the politics of the region. Volume 2 contains his history of the Wahhabi sect.

Page 4 of 5