Cette thèse établit un corpus de plus de quatre cents voyageurs et auteurs européens, passés ou non par Alep pendant la période ottomane (1516-1918), dont les œuvres évoquant la métropole syrienne relèvent de la littérature de voyage. Centre économique, religieux et culturel, situé à la croisée des routes entre l’Europe, l’Asie et l’Afrique, Alep est un lieu de séjour ou de passage pour de nombreux voyageurs aux motivations diverses. La mise en texte de leur expérience viatique peut prendre des formes variées et subit l’influence des modèles rhétoriques classiques, en particulier celui de l’éloge de la cité à l’origine d’un certain nombre de topoi : la ville est propre et bien bâtie, son air est pur, ses jardins agréables, ses habitants tolérants et raffinés. Ces clichés sont répandus dans le temps, dans l’espace et à travers plusieurs genres littéraires. Leur diffusion est favorisée par les pratiques intertextuelles, mais ils ne sont pas constitutifs d’un regard européen spécifique, les sources orientales orales et écrites intervenant dans la construction du savoir sur la ville. L’originalité d’Alep repose dans la rareté des souvenirs chrétiens, gréco-romains et croisés, qui entraîne une faible fréquentation au XIXe siècle malgré l’importance de la métropole. Ce paradoxe révèle ainsi ce que recherchent principalement les voyageurs européens : eux-mêmes à travers leur propre passé. / The thesis establishes a corpus of more than four hundred European travellers and authors, passed or not through Aleppo during the Ottoman period (1516-1918), whose works evoke the Syrian metropolis within travel literature. As economic, cultural and religious centre located at the crossroads between Europe, Asia and Africa, Aleppo is a place of transit or residence for many travellers coming for different motivations. Their travel accounts can take many forms and are influenced by classical rhetorical models, particularly the praise of the city generating some topoi: the city is clean and well built, its air is pure and its gardens pleasant, the inhabitants are refined and tolerant. These topoi are scattered in time, space as well as in many literary genres. Their diffusion is favoured by the intertextual practices, but they do not reflect a specific European perspective, as Eastern sources – oral and written – take part in constructing knowledge about the city. The originality of Aleppo lies in scarcity of Christian, Greco-Roman and Crusaders recollections, which leads to low presence in the nineteenth century despite the importance of the city. This paradox reveals what European travellers look mainly for: themselves through their own history.

This essay is primarily focusing on finding the purpose of Abdullah Buhari’s homoerotic miniature paintings. We may never know for sure the sole purpose and know what Buhari’s intentions was when creating these paintings. By creating categories focusing on homoerotic artwork I have tried to answer that question. To be able to create these categories and to further use them as a tool to analyse and discuss Buhari’s artwork, I have analysed and discussed other homoerotic art from different genres and eras and looked for significant characteristics and elements in these work of art that can be connected to each respective category. To support these characteristics and these different categories I have refered to existing research and literature. Although Buhari is mostly known for his artwork portraying women, I chose his homoerotic art as my main focus. Mainly because I was positively surprised when I first saw them and also because I found the lack of references to these homoerotic art rather puzzling. How come one primarily focus on Buharis portrayal of women and heterosexual relations when talking of him and not those portraying manly relations? Since my main focus in this essay, was to analyse art portraying sexual relations between men, and because there are significantly more sources and studies regarding same sex relationship between men I have chosen not to include work portraying woman and lesbian relationships, although a female perspective will be present to some degree since I identify as female myself.

No description available.

No description available.

The past years have seen a renewed interest in the study of Ottoman and African relations. Several works have been published in Turkish and partly in English; they cover the periods from the 16th century to World War I and geographically referred to the Ottoman provinces in North and North East Africa mostly Egypt, Tripoli, Tunisia, and Ethiopia (Habesh Province) by using the Ottoman archival sources. However, no comprehensive study has been undertaken on the relations between the Ottoman Empire and the rest of the continent except for a few works. This Ph.D. study had begun as an investigation into the Zanzibar Sultanate which was frequently referred to as Zengibar, the local Muslim sultanate in East Africa in the Ottoman archival sources of the late nineteenth century. After examining more than a hundred documents that were first transcribed from the original version of Ottoman Turkish and then translated into English with annotations, this study revealed the existence of the entangled world of East Africa where Europeans, Ottomans, and local African powers had been constantly in contact with each other at the global age of colonialism. In this sense, this work, first questioned how the Ottoman State, as the Caliph of the Muslim world, produced knowledge about Africa and perceived what was taking place in the region in the related period. Secondly, it deals with the Ottoman’s relationship with the European States in the context of the scramble for Africa. Thirdly, it questioned the nature of the mutual relations between the Zanzibar Sultanate and the Ottoman Empire which was fostered by imperial competition between European powers in the period of high colonialism.:CONTENTS...................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................ vii LIST OF DOCUMENTS ...................................................... viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……………………..xi INTRODUCTION………………………1 The Congo Conference and East Africa .......................................................... 1 East Africa in Ottoman Sources: An Imperial but Non-Colonial Perspective ...... 4 Aims, Sources, and Methodology ............................10 Structure of the Thesis .................................................................. 13 PART I: THE OTTOMAN PERCEPTION OF EARLY COLONIAL INITIATIVES IN EAST AFRICA (1885-1890) ............................................ 17 1.1 AFRIKA-YI OSMANI: OTTOMAN MAPPING OF AFRICA ................... 20 1.1.1 The Berlin Conference and its Reflection in Ottoman Mapping of Africa ... 24 1.1.2 The Sources ................................. 25 1.1.3 Annotated and Translated Documents with original maps ................... 27 1.2 THE OTTOMAN VIEW OF THE SCHUTZBRIEF IN 1885 ..................... 67 1.2.1 The Ottoman Perception of the Schutzbrief ..................................... 69 1.2.2 The Sources ................................................ 73 1.2.3 Annotated and Translated Documents ............................... 76 1.2.4 Original Documents .................................................... 90 1.3 “BRITISH PLOT” OR “FALLING PREY TO THE DESIRE OF HAVING A COLONY IN EAST AFRICA”? THE OTTOMAN PERCEPTION OF THE BLOCKADE OF THE COASTS OF THE ZANZIBAR SULTANATE, 1888-89 ......................... 101 1.3.1 The Sources ....................................... 104 1.3.2 Annotated and Translated Documents .................. 107 1.3.3 Original Documents ................................... 139 PART II: ALLIANCE OR COMPETITION? IMPERIAL ENCOUNTERS IN EAST AFRICA ...........150 2.1 RELUCTANT MIDDLEMAN BETWEEN GERMANY AND ZANZIBAR (1886-94) ........152 2.1.1 The Wissmanntruppe ................................................... 153 2.1.2 The Sources ........................................................... 156 2.1.3 Annotated and Translated Documents ............................ 158 2.1.4 Original Documents ................................................ 165 2.2 WHICH GOD FOR CONGO? A CONVERTED MUSLIM’S VOICE IN THE ANTWERP PRESS AND HIS NETWORKS IN ISTANBUL AND CONGO ........ 171 2.2.1 Muhammad Muhtar ............................................................. 172 2.2.2 The “Civilising Mission” of Muslim Missionaries ................... 174 2.2.3 The Sources ................................................................ 176 2.2.4 Annotated and Translated Documents ........................... 179 2.2.5 Original Documents ................................ 200 2.3 THE PRESS AND THE OTTOMAN ROLE IN AFRICA (1885-1892) ..... 208 2.3.1 The Sources ............................................................. 210 2.3.2 Annotated and Translated Documents ..................... 214 2.3.3 Original Documents ............................................ 236 PART III: BEING CONNECTED IN HARD TIMES: RELATIONS BETWEEN THE ZANZIBAR SULTANATE AND THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE (1879-1908) ........... 255 3.1 “GOD SAVE THE QUEEN” VS “GOD SAVE OUR BRAVE SAYYID”: SULTAN BARGHASH’S DESIRE FOR A ZANZIBAR NATIONAL ANTHEM IN 1879.................... 259 3.1.1 Introduction ............................................ 259 3.1.2 The Magazine an-Nahlah (The Bee) and Barghash’s Desire for a National Anthem…………………………… .. 263 3.1.3 The Sultan’s Band .......................................... 265 3.1.4 The Age of Images: Ceremonies, Symbols, and Rites ..................... 267 3.1.5 The Sources .............................................................. 269 3.1.6 Annotated and Translated Documents ........................... 271 3.1.7 Original Documents .................................. 275 3.2 IT TOOK LONGER TO ARRIVE THAN TO STAY: AN OTTOMAN ENVOY’S VISIT TO ZANZIBAR IN 1888 ............................................. 281 3.2.1 The Sources .............................................................. 285 3.2.2 Annotated and Translated Documents ............................. 288 3.2.3 Original Documents .................................. 309 3.3 FROM ITALY TO ZANZIBAR: THE TRANSLOCAL NETWORK OF AN ANARCHIST IN 1905 ............................ 329 3.3.1 The Sources ........................................ 335 3.3.2 Annotated and Translated Documents ......................... 337 3.3.3 Original Documents ...................................... 349 3.4 THE ZANZIBAR SULTAN’S VISITS TO ISTANBUL IN 1907-1908 ......... 370 3.4.1 The Sources .......................................................... 373 3.4.2 Annotated and Translated Documents ................................. 375 3.4.3 Original Documents............................................................... 389 CONCLUDING REMARKS .............................................. 416 BIBLIOGRAPHY...........................................................428

No description available.

No description available.

Captives. The works of Johannes Schiltberger, George of Hungary and Konstantin Mihailović as testimonies about late medieval search for identity and cultural integration in the Muslim world Bc. Karolina Srncová The master's thesis enquires into the phenomenon of late medieval reflection on Muslim society in captivity narratives, treatises and memoirs from the pen of former Christian captives. Through a comparison of testimonies by three Europeans, who spent long years in Ottoman or Tatar captivity, the thesis investigates the process of their integration in the Muslim world, their perception of this world, and the notion of it they kept after their return to Christian Europe. Apart from the literary reflection on the other the thesis also pursues authors themselves - how they perceived and constructed their cultural identity in the strange environment, what long-term modus vivendi they employed and by what narratives they tried to present their infidel past back in their homeland. Thus the work aims to contribute to our notion of the Christian-Ottoman encounters in the 15th century, but also to consider the cultural adaptability of late medieval man and the role of captives, men between two worlds, who had to cope with the demands of such an adaptation.

This thesis deals with the development of the hand-held firearms in the Middle East with an emphasis on the period from the 15th to the end of the 18th century. In some passages it also marginally mentions the early 19th century. The first part of the thesis concentrates on the development of firearms in a historical context. The focus is primarily on the Ottoman Empire and partially on Egypt. Among other topics it also analyses the practical use of firearms and the related military tactics including the presence of firearms in major battles, as shown on contemporary paintings and miniatures. In the second part the author deals with the technical development of hand-held firearms. This section focuses mostly on the components of firearms and their development. This section also in some degree deals with the artistic aspects of the preserved firearms. The supplements consist of numerous photographs of the preserved exhibits in Czech and foreign collections and also of other visual materials. Keywords firearms, gunpowder, Middle East, Ottoman Empire, Mamluks, Egypt, flintlock, matchlock, miquelet, stock, barrel, decoration, miniatures

How did Czechoslovak press write about Turkey in the 1920s? This thesis tries to answer this question, using the example of four selected dailies: Národní listy, Venkov, Právo lidu and Lidové noviny. Up to now, no such work has been written. Therefore it brings a new perspective on Turkish international politics as seen by Czechoslovak press.