John Lewis Burckhardt’s Nile Journeys and Nubia

Öz

Africa, which until the eighteenth century oscillated between myth and reality in the eyes of Europeans, became the subject of modern research after it came under the influence of colonialism. Nubia, which was the subject of conflict between Egypt and Sudan after its conquest by Mehmet Ali Pasha in 1841, also became a subject of colonial curiosity. By focusing on the observations of Swiss traveler John Lewis Burckhardt (1784-1817), this study examines the socioeconomic and cultural history of Nubia, which has not been addressed adequately in Turkish historiography. Burckhardt’s travels to Bilad al-Sham, Egypt, Nubia, and Arabia between 1809 and 1816 on behalf of the African Association and the notes he kept during those travels constitute the main material of this study. Furthermore, this paper analyzes Burckhardt’s Travels in Nubia (1819), a compilation of his journals and letters, to evaluate his anthropological observations of nineteenth-century Nubia. This article also examines the curiosity and desire for exploration that motivated a European traveler to embark on a challenging journey of discovery in Africa and the role of the African Association in his voyage to the region.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Nubia
• Africa
• travel
• John Lewis Burckhardt

John Lewis Burckhardt’ın Nil Yolculukları ve Nübye

Öz

18. yüzyıla dek Avrupalıların gözünde efsane ve gerçeklik arasında bir yerde konumlanan Afrika, kolonyalizmin etkisi altına girdikten sonra modern araştırmaların konusu haline gelmiştir. Diğer yandan 1841’de Mehmet Ali Paşa tarafından ele geçirildikten sonra Mısır ve Sudan arasında paylaşılamayan ve hatta çatışma konusu olan Nübye de bu kolonyal merakın ilgi alanına girmiştir. Bu çalışma, Türk tarih yazımında yeterince ele alınmamış olan Nübye’nin sosyo-ekonomik ve kültürel tarihini, İsviçreli seyyah John Lewis Burckhardt’ın gözlemlerini odağa alarak incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Burckhardt’ın 1809-1816 yılları arasında, African Association adına gerçekleştirdiği Biladü’ş-Şam, Mısır, Nübye ve Arabistan seyahatleri ve bu seyahatler esnasında tuttuğu notlar, bu incelemenin ana malzemesini oluşturmaktadır. Makalede ayrıca, Burckhardt’ın seyahat günlükleri ve mektuplarından oluşan Travels in Nubia (1819) adlı eseri ele alınacak ve 19. yüzyıl Nübyesi hakkındaki antropolojik gözlemleri incelenecektir. Yine bu çalışmada bir Avrupalı gezgini Afrika’da zorlu bir keşif yolculuğuna çıkmaya motive eden merak ve keşfetme arzusu mercek altına alınacak ve African Association’ın bu keşif faaliyetindeki rolüne de değinilecektir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Nübye
• Afrika
• Seyahat
• John Lewis Burckhardt

Kaynakça

1. Ansorge, Catherine. “Study And Travel; John Lewis Burckhardt’s Remarkable Journey Traced Through Archives And Manuscripts in Cambridge University Library.” Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society. 16, 3 (2018): 455-486. google scholar
2. Armaoğlu, Fahir H. Siyasi Tarih 1789-1960. Ankara: AÜSBF Yayınları, 1975. google scholar
3. Ballı, Yunus. “Nilotik Sudan’da Kurulan Bir İslam Devleti: Fûnc Sultanlığı (1505-1821).” Yayınlanmamış Yüksek Lisans Tezi, İstanbul Üniversitesi, 2019. google scholar
4. Belzoni, Giovanni Battista. Narrative of the Operations and Recent Discoveries within the Pyramids, Temples, Tombs, and Excavations, in Egypt and Nubia. London: John Murray, 1820. google scholar
5. Bosavlevy, Chater. “Evliya Çelebi Travels in the Sudan in 1672/73 A.D..” Cahiers d’Histoire Egyptienne. 10 (1967): 177-183. google scholar
6. Bosworth, C. E. ve Taylor, F. Ed. “Some Correspondence in the John Rylands University Library of Manchester Concerning John Lewis Burckhardt and Lady Hester Stanhope’s Physician.” Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 55/ 1 (1972): 33-59. google scholar
7. Bozkurt, Nebi. “Nûbe.” DİA 33: 222-223, İstanbul: TDV, 2007. google scholar
8. Browne, William George. Travels in Africa, Egypt, and Syria: From the Year 1792 to 1798. London: T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1799. google scholar

9. Bruce, James. Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile in the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773. VI, Edinburgh: Longman and Rees, 1805. google scholar
10. Budge, E. A. Wallis. The Egyptian Sudan, its History and Monuments. 1, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., London. google scholar
11. Burckhardt, John Lewis. Travels in Nubia. London: John Murray, 1819. google scholar
12. Burckhardt, John Lewis. Travels in Syria and the Holy Land. London: John Murray, 1822. google scholar
13. Burckhardt, John Lewis. Travels in Arabia. London: Henry Colburn, 1829. google scholar
14. Burckhardt, John Lewis. Arabian Proverbs, London: Henry Colburn, 1830. google scholar
15. Burckhardt, John Lewis. Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys, London: Henry Colbum and Richard Bentley, 1831. google scholar
16. Burckhardt, John Lewis William Y. Adams. “Ethnographer.” Ethnohistory. 20/3, 1 (1973): 213-228. google scholar
17. Cailliaud, F. Voyage aMeroe, et au Fleuve Blanc. Paris: Imprimerie, 1826-1827. google scholar
18. De Golbery, Sylvain Meinrad Xavier. Fragmens d’un Voyage en Afrique. Paris: Treuttel et Würtz, 1802. google scholar
19. Hillelson, S., Christides, V. ve Bosworth, C. E. vd., “Nûba.” EI2 8: 88-93, Leiden: Brill, 2010. google scholar
20. Holt, P. M.. The Mahdist State in the Sudan 1881-1898: a Study of its Origins, Development and Overthrow. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958. google scholar
21. Hoskins, George A.. Travels in Ethiopia, Above the Second Cataract of the Nile: Exhibiting the State of that Country, and Its Various Inhabitants, Under the Dominion of Mohammed Ali; and Illustrating the Antiquities, Arts, and History of the Ancient Kingdom ofMeroe. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman, 1835. google scholar
22. Kallek, Cengiz. “Burckhardt, Johann Ludwig.” DİA. 6: 420-421, İstanbul TDV, 1992. google scholar
23. Kryza, Frank T.. The Race for Timbuktu In Search ofAfrica’s City of Gold. New York: Harper Collins, 2006. google scholar
24. Lepsius, Carl R. Discoveries in Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Peninsula ofSinai, in the Years 1842- 1845. Edit. K. R. H. MacKenzie, London: Richard Bentley, 1853. google scholar
25. Linant de Bellefonds, L.M.A. “Journal d’un Voyage a Meroe dans les Annees 1821 et 1822.” Ed. M. Shinnie. Khartoum: Sudan Antiquities Service Occasional Paper,1958. google scholar
26. Manley, Deborah- Ree, Peta. Henry Salt, Artist, Traveller, Diplomat, Egyptologist. London: Libri Publications Ltd., 2001. google scholar
27. Moorehead, Alan. The Blue Nile, New York: Harper and Row, 1962. google scholar
28. Orhonlu, Cengiz. Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nun Güney Siyaseti: Habeş Eyaleti. Ankara: TTK Yayınları, 1996. google scholar
29. Otter, William. The Life and Remains of Edward Daniel Clarke, LL.D., Professor of Mineralogy in the University of Cambridge. London: George Cowie and Co., 1824. google scholar
30. Roberts, Andrew. Napolyon: Hayatı, çev. Barbaros Uzunköprü, İstanbul: Kronik Yay., 2013. google scholar
31. Robinson, Arthur. E. “The Conquest of the Sudan by the Wali of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha, 1820-1824.” Journal of the Royal African Society. 25, 97 (1925): 47-58. google scholar
32. Sandbank, Kenneth. “Literary Representation and Social Legitimation: J. L.Burckhardt’s Approach to ‘The Orient’.” International Journal of Middle East Studies. 13, 4 (1981): 497-511. google scholar
33. Sattin, Anthony. The Gates of Africa: Death, Discovery and the Quest for Timbuktu. London: Harper Collins, 2003. google scholar
34. Sattin, Anthony. “Jean Louis Burckhardt.” Tarihteki Yetmiş Büyük Yolculuk içinde, ed. R. Hanbury- Tenison, 169-172. çev. N. Elhüseyni. İstanbul: Oğlak Yay., 2007. google scholar
35. Sim, Katherine. Desert Traveller; the Life of Jean Louis Burckhardt. London: Victor Gollancz, 1969. google scholar
36. Sinclair, William. “The African Association of 1788.” Journal of the Royal African Society. 1, 1, (1901): 145-149. google scholar
37. Şeker, Mehmet. “Makrîzî’nin El-Hıtat Adlı Eserinde Mısır ve İfrîkıyye’de Mezheplerin Ortaya Çıkışı.” Türk Kültürü ve Hacı Bektaş Veli Araştırma Dergisi. 89, (2019): 43-54. google scholar
38. Trigger, Bruce G. “New Light on the History of Lower Nubia.” Anthropologica. 10, 1 (1968): 81-106. google scholar
39. Waddington, George- Hanbury, Barnard. Journal of a Visit to Some Parts of Aethiopia. London: John Murray, 1822. google scholar
40. Wagstaff, M. “Burckhardt, Johann Ludwig.” Literature of Travel and Exploration: An Encyclopedia içinde, Ed. J. Speake, 143-144. London: Routledge, 2014. google scholar