Introduction

For millennia, Anatolia has been peculiarly synonymous with human travel. Anatolia is the Asian landmass resembling a horse's head thrusting into Europe, and the heartland of modern Turkey. This special issue of Studies in Travel Writing introduces new perspectives and archives for the study of travel in the domains of the Ottoman Empire and in the Republic of Turkey. Written history began in Anatolia, and it was a history written by travellers: from the production of clay tablets by Assyrian merchants enabling and recording commercial transactions across a vast network centred on Kültepe, near modern Kayseri, to war records, Ottoman administrative reports, accounts by churchmen, pilgrims, merchants, soldiers, adventurers, archaeologists and the inventors of the ‘Blue Cruise’. The introduction lays out a framework for understanding changes in the technology and practice of travel from the earliest records to Ottoman imperial systems and Republican modernisation: from stamp seals to Evliya Çelebi, Irfan Orga, the ‘Fisherman of Halicarnassus’ and Orhan Pamuk. Revising the usual focus in Western scholarship by including new genres, archives and perspectives within the purview of travel writing, this special issue opens up new possibilities for further exploration

Adventure · Ancient history · Art · Art history · Empire · Literature · Modernization theory · Ottoman empire · Political science · Scholarship · Travel writing · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Philippine History and Culture

• Horse-Human Companionship

  Open Access•Donna Landry•Cosmopolitan Animals•2015

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