Travelogues of Palestine

Two notable examples of Travelogues of Palestine, almost 1,500 years apart.

Travelogues of Palestine are the written descriptions of the region of Palestine by travellers, particularly prior to the 20th century. The works are important sources in the study of the history of Palestine and of Israel. Surveys of the geographical literature on Palestine were published by Edward Robinson in 1841,^[1] Titus Tobler in 1867^[2] and subsequently by Reinhold Röhricht in 1890.^[3] Röhricht catalogued 177 works between 333 – 1300 CE, 19 works in the 14th century, 279 works in the 15th century, 333 works in the 16th century, 390 works in the 17th century, 318 works in the 18th century and 1,915 works in the 19th century.^[4]

In total, there are more than 3,000 books and other materials detailing accounts of the journeys of primarily European and North American travelers to Ottoman Palestine.^[5] The number of published travelogues proliferated during the 19th century, and these travelers' impressions of 19th-century Palestine have been often quoted in the history and historiography of the region, although their accuracy and impartiality has been called into question in modern times.^[6]^[5]

^ Biblical Researches in Palestine, volume 3, First Appendix, pages 3–28
^ Bibliographia Geographica Palaestinae. Zunächst Kristiche Übersicht Gedruckter und Ungedruckter Beschreibungen der Reisen ins Heilige Land ("Geographical Bibliography of Palestine. The First Critical Overview of Printed and Unprinted Descriptions of Travels to the Holy Land"), 1867; note an English version of a prior version of Tobler's list was published as an appendix to William Leonard Gage's 1866 translation of Carl Ritter's Erdkunde: Ritter, C. (1866). "Tobler's resume of works on Palestine". The comparative geographie of Palestine and the Sinaitic Peninsula. T. & T. Clark. pp. 391–409.
^ Reinhold Röhricht Bibliotheca Geographica Palaestinae: Chronologisches Verzeichniss der auf die Geographie des Heiligen Landes bezüglichen Literatur ("Geographical Bibliography of Palestine: Chronological Index of Literature relating to the Geography of the Holy Land"), Berlin: Reuther und Reichard, 1890
^ Zur Shalev (14 October 2011). Sacred Words and Worlds: Geography, Religion, and Scholarship, 1550–1700. BRILL. p. 79. ISBN 978-90-04-20938-1.
^ ^a ^b Ilan Pappe (31 July 2006). A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples. Cambridge University Press. pp. 34–35. ISBN 978-0-521-68315-9. The foreign visitors were prolific writers. More than three thousand books and travelogues on Palestine were written by Europeans throughout the nineteenth century, all painting a picture of a primitive Palestine waiting to be redeemed by Europeans... We cannot quantify misery or joy, but Palestinian biographies from a short time later, and subsequent anthropological research, tell us that this picture represents the distorted view of European colonists.
^ Johann Büssow (11 August 2011). Hamidian Palestine: Politics and Society in the District of Jerusalem 1872–1908. BRILL. pp. 30–. ISBN 978-90-04-20569-7.

[1] Biblical Researches in Palestine, volume 3, First Appendix, pages 3–28

[2] Bibliographia Geographica Palaestinae. Zunächst Kristiche Übersicht Gedruckter und Ungedruckter Beschreibungen der Reisen ins Heilige Land ("Geographical Bibliography of Palestine. The First Critical Overview of Printed and Unprinted Descriptions of Travels to the Holy Land"), 1867; note an English version of a prior version of Tobler's list was published as an appendix to William Leonard Gage's 1866 translation of Carl Ritter's Erdkunde: Ritter, C. (1866). "Tobler's resume of works on Palestine". The comparative geographie of Palestine and the Sinaitic Peninsula. T. & T. Clark. pp. 391–409.

[3] Reinhold Röhricht Bibliotheca Geographica Palaestinae: Chronologisches Verzeichniss der auf die Geographie des Heiligen Landes bezüglichen Literatur ("Geographical Bibliography of Palestine: Chronological Index of Literature relating to the Geography of the Holy Land"), Berlin: Reuther und Reichard, 1890

[Shalev2011-4] Zur Shalev (14 October 2011). Sacred Words and Worlds: Geography, Religion, and Scholarship, 1550–1700. BRILL. p. 79. ISBN 978-90-04-20938-1.

[Pappe2006-5] Ilan Pappe (31 July 2006). A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples. Cambridge University Press. pp. 34–35. ISBN 978-0-521-68315-9. The foreign visitors were prolific writers. More than three thousand books and travelogues on Palestine were written by Europeans throughout the nineteenth century, all painting a picture of a primitive Palestine waiting to be redeemed by Europeans... We cannot quantify misery or joy, but Palestinian biographies from a short time later, and subsequent anthropological research, tell us that this picture represents the distorted view of European colonists.

[Büssow2011-6] Johann Büssow (11 August 2011). Hamidian Palestine: Politics and Society in the District of Jerusalem 1872–1908. BRILL. pp. 30–. ISBN 978-90-04-20569-7.

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