Author Description

The twenty-six chapters of this volume have their origins in a three-day seminar organised by the Association for the Study of Travel in Egypt and the Near East (ASTENE) in conjunction with the Faculty of Islamic Studies, University of Sarajevo, with additional support from Cornucopia magazine. This multi-disciplinary event attracted a wide range of participants from around the world, including Europe, the United States of America, the Balkans, Türkiye and other parts of the Middle East. This volume has a special focus on the Balkans and Anatolia, as seen and described by travellers from both within and outside the region. Much still remains to be learned about travellers in the Ottoman Balkans, who can shed valuable light on the topics of Christian-Muslim and East-West relations, and the transition from the Ottoman Empire to successor nation-states in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The chapters cover a variety of subjects, with sections on landscapes; religion and travel; European travellers from merchants to kings; fantasies, images and folktales; and imperial discourse, the rise of nations, and reportage. Contributors to the book are specialists from a range of academic disciplines, who draw on a wide selection of theoretical perspectives and research methodologies.