Glimpse at the Travelogues of Baghdad

Iman Al-Attar is an Iraqi architect, historian and a doctor in philosophy and urban history. She is currently doing research on topics including urban history, Islamic architecture, cultural issues and Baghdad. In 2018 she published her first book; Baghdad: an urban history through the lens of literature, which examines the writings of some local scholars who stayed in Baghdad in the 18th and 19th centuries.

• ContentsIllustrations v Introduction 1Author’s note 4 The context of travel writing 5 Baghdad and the Ottoman Empire 9 One name and multiple locations 9A unique city with a mysterious history 11The Ottoman Empire 15The perception of Ottoman cities in historiography 16The Mamluk’s ruling of Baghdad 20 Travelogues and history Representation 29 Travelogues methods and attitudes 29Travelogues and Orientalism 33Travelogues and Islamic studies 36Travelogues and heritage understanding 43 Diverse travelers before the 18th Century 46 Regional travelers 46European travelers 50 Europeans Involvement in the 18th Century 53Mapping Efforts of Carsten Niebuhr 54The Novels of Guillaume Antoine Olivier 60 British Intervention Intensifies 66 The Arabian Nights 67Political focus of Claudius Rich 69 Lifestyle conditions by Mary Rich 73City descriptions by James Silk Buckingham 76Colonial interests in Heude’s writings 88 Summary 94Endnotes 98 BibliographyIndex