Seventeenth Century European Travel Accounts of İzmir: Narrating Orient Before Orientalism

Year 2024, , 38 - 45, 25.03.2024

Çağla Caner Yüksel , Ceren Katipoğlu Özmen

https://doi.org/10.5152/Planarch.2023.23200

Abstract

From the 17th century onward, Europe’s curiosity about and developing relations with its nearest “other,” the Ottoman Empire, prompted European envoys, delegates, merchants, and other travelers to visit these lands. The journeys to the Orient, and the subsequent publication of accounts of these journeys, laid the foundations for the accumulation of a body of knowledge and representations of the Orient. İzmir, as a flourishing commercial center on the Mediterranean, became a place included in the itinerary of European travelers during their journey to the Orient. The travelogues provided descriptions of İzmir’s urban life, daily routine, demography, and social structure as well as its physical environment, geographical features, and architectural scenery. This article aims to reveal these 17th century narratives, particularly those of British and French travelers, in terms of their individual, unique perspectives as well as their common aspects. In addition, this article asks whether the 17th century view of the Orient-as evidenced by the textual and visual representations of İzmir in these travel accounts-can be seen as a prelude to the Orientalism of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Keywords

17th century, İzmir, orientalism, spatial narratives, travel accounts.

On Yedinci Yüzyıl Avrupa Seyahatnamelerinde İzmir: Oryantalizmden Önce Doğu'yu Anlatmak

Abstract

On yedinci yüzyıldan itibaren Avrupa'nın en yakınındaki “öteki” olan Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'na duyduğu merak ve bu ülkeyle gelişen ilişkileri, Avrupalı elçileri, temsilcileri, tüccarları ve gezginleri bu toprakları ziyaret etmeye teşvik etti. Doğu'ya yapılan yolculuklar ve bu yolculuklara dair anlatıların yayınlanması, Doğu'ya dair bir bilgi birikimi ve temsillerin temellerini attı. Akdeniz'de gelişen bir ticaret merkezi olarak İzmir, Avrupalı seyyahların Doğu'ya yaptıkları yolculuklarda güzergahlarına dahil ettikleri bir yer haline geldi. Seyahatnamelerde İzmir'in kentsel yaşamı, günlük rutini, demografisi ve sosyal yapısının yanı sıra fiziksel çevresi, coğrafi özellikleri ve mimari manzarası da betimlenmiştir. Bu çalışma, on yedinci yüzyıla ait bu anlatıları, özellikle de İngiliz ve Fransız seyyahların anlatılarını, ortak yönlerinin yanı sıra bireysel ve özgün bakış açıları açısından ortaya koymayı amaçlamaktadır. Buna ek olarak, çalışmada, on yedinci yüzyıldaki Doğu'ya bakışın - İzmir'in bu seyahatnamelerdeki metinsel ve görsel temsillerinin kanıtladığı üzere - on sekizinci ve on dokuzuncu yüzyıl Oryantalizminin bir başlangıcı olarak görülüp görülemeyeceği sorgulanmaktadır.

Keywords

On yedinci yüzyıl, İzmir, oryantalizm, mekânsal anlatılar, seyahatnameler

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