Orientalism and the Making of Turkology in the Age of the Enlightenment

Reveals how early modern European engagement with Muslim and Chinese sources forged Turkology and offers a cohesive synthesis of how Enlightenment Orientalism was shaped by both cross-cultural circulations and local dynamics.Set against the backdrop of the Long Eighteenth Century, this book traces how European scholars engaged with the pre-Ottoman past and geographic presence of Turkic peoples, gradually defining a distinct field within Oriental studies: Turkology. Following the movement of people, books, manuscripts, artefacts, and ideas across Eurasia, it shows how transnational circulations, alongside careers, institutions, and scholarly practices, shaped emerging understandings.Structured in two parts, Despina Magkanari's study offers a clear overview of scholarship on Turkic peoples. The first examines Barthélemy d'Herbelot's Bibliothèque orientale and its role in debates on Turkish origins. Through this lens, Magkanari reveals how d'Herbelot mediated between East and West, revisiting key Muslim sources with Antoine Galland to reshape European historical understandings. The second part explores Jesuit scholarship through Claude Visdelou, whose use of Chinese sources in the Histoire abrégée de la Tartarie reframed Inner Asian historiography. Visdelou's writings are situated within the political, religious, and intellectual landscapes of Qing China and Enlightened Europe, while highlighting the challenges of disseminating his work.The study offers a cohesive synthesis of Enlightenment Orientalism, its actors, sites, practices, and transnational networks, while remaining attentive to local dynamics and reinterpretations.