Abstract
Travel books may contain some historical information that cannot be obtained from archival documents. For history and historian, human-time-space elements are essential. Francis Marion Crawford's travel book, Constantinople, published in 1895, is perhaps the least known of the more than fifty works written by the author during his lifetime. No study has been found in the domestic and foreign academic literature dealing with the author and his travel book. The author of the travelogue is an intellectual who can speak and write fluently in almost fifteen different languages. It is a travel book that gives very valuable information about Istanbul in the period of Abdulhamid II in socio-cultural terms. In the content of the travel book, basic narratives such as the history of Istanbul, the historical and cultural atmosphere of the city, its institutions, art and works of art, its social texture, economic situation, geographical situation, and demographics are included in a concise manner. Perhaps the most valuable element and strength of the travelogue is that it deals with “cityscapes” in a depth that includes “human landscapes”. It is seen that "everyday life" in 19th century Istanbul is conveyed by using a fluent and technical style with every aspect. During his stay in Istanbul, Crawford made interesting analyzes in his travel book about many events and situations that he traveled, saw and experienced by putting the "people of Istanbul" in the center in the context of the Ottoman "millet system". Although the focus of the travelogue is the “Turks who own the city”, the social, cultural and economic panorama of the Greeks, Armenians and Jews living in the city is also given. In the study, document review method and content analysis technique were used.