Travelers and Visitors Portray the Arabian Peninsula and the Kingdom from the 16th to the 20th Century
Knowledge Affairs – Special
The visits of Western and Eastern travelers to the Kingdom were not merely passing excursions. Rather, they carried a profound passion for discovering the heartland of the Arabian Peninsula, the lands of the Holy Sites, and the birthplace of Islam, which had spread across the various countries and regions of the world, east and west, south and north.
The fundamental motivation was a desire to discover this land, understand how Islam had emerged there and spread throughout the world, and record this fascination in books documenting their journeys. These records took the form of diaries, memoirs, and recollections that later became sources for systematic studies in determining the geography, history, and social phenomena of the region. These same travel accounts also developed into a form of travel literature studied at universities around the world.
If the Crusades represented the military and armed response from Europe, particularly in its dealings with the Arab and Islamic lands, travelers represented another, peaceful dimension through which the Arab and Islamic lands could be explored and understood.
Within this awareness, large numbers of travelers from the East and West visited the Arabian Peninsula. Japanese, Indian, Russian, Swedish, Swiss, American, German, British, French, and Spanish travelers visited the region, as did visitors from distant parts of the Americas, Asia, and West Africa, in addition to Arab and Muslim visitors from Arab and Islamic countries, whether for Umrah, Hajj, or to explore the lands of the Kingdom.
August Ralli’s book, “Christians at Mecca,” offers an interesting account of the impressions of European travelers who visited the holy city from 909 AH / 1503 to 1312 AH / 1894. Similarly, Albrecht Sima’s book, “The Arabian Peninsula in the Writings of Western Travelers in a Hundred Years (1770–1870),” contains brief accounts of some of the travelers who visited the Hijaz and wrote about its cities. Among the references made by the author is a brief mention of Captain Wellsted’s visit to the city of Jeddah in 1247 AH / 1831.
The Portuguese Beginning:
Western travel literature contains brief references to the captain and traveler John Cabot, who is said to have visited Makkah between 881 and 896 AH / 1476–1490, and perhaps traveled along the eastern shores of the Red Sea. He is also associated with the belief that the Arabian Peninsula was unknown, and therefore he reportedly called it “Newfoundland” and declared it annexed to the possessions of King Henry VII. There was also the Portuguese sailor Gregory da Quadra, who accompanied pilgrims from Zabid in Yemen to Makkah around 906 AH / 1500.
Among the earliest Western travelers to visit the Arabian Peninsula was the Italian traveler Ludovico di Varthema (861–932 AH / 1456–1517), who adopted the name Hajj Yunus and accompanied a caravan of pilgrims from the Levant in 909 AH / 1503. He stayed in Makkah for several weeks and described the city. He stated that it contained 6,000 families, discussed the scarcity of water, described the rituals of Hajj and purification with Zamzam water, and wrote about Madinah and Jeddah, describing the daily life of their inhabitants and recounting amusing stories. He estimated that Jeddah had 500 families. He published an account of his journey, “Itinerario,” in Italian in 1510, and the book became highly popular after its publication and was translated into several European languages. Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Sheikh translated Varthema’s journey, and it was published by the General Egyptian Book Organization as part of the Thousand Books Series in 1994.
The visits then continued. John Wild visited Makkah and Madinah in 1012 AH / 1604. Then, in 1643, Makkah was visited by Matheo de Castro, a Catholic bishop of Indian origin.
In 1097 AH / 1685, George Pitts, a man of British origin, arrived in the Hijaz.
Among the most prominent travelers to visit the region during the eighteenth century was the Danish scholar Carsten Niebuhr, who arrived in Jeddah at the end of 1176 AH / 1762 with a scientific expedition commissioned by Frederick V, Emperor of Denmark, to study the economic, social, environmental, and geographical conditions of the Hijaz.
Travel to the Kingdom continued both before and after its establishment, undertaken by writers, intellectuals, scholars, and Orientalists of various nationalities, particularly from Europe and America. In 1224 AH / 1809, Makkah was visited by Ulrich Jasper Seetzen, who came from one of the German states that was under the authority of the Russian Tsar and was a specialist in linguistics.
The Swiss traveler Johann Ludwig Burckhardt also visited Makkah, Madinah, Taif, Jeddah, and Yanbu. He traveled throughout the region for approximately ten months, from the middle of 1230 AH / 1814 to the first quarter of 1231 AH / 1815. He recorded everything he observed and everything that came to his attention about the land and its people, including their social, economic, political, and cultural ways of life.
Visions from Abroad:
In her encyclopedic book “Visions from Abroad: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” published in three languages—French by Skira, and English and Arabic by KAF Publishing—Saudi researcher Mona Khazindar collected writings about the Arabian Peninsula found in the works of Arab and foreign travelers, along with photographs taken of the region and paintings, maps, and designs depicting it, beginning in the sixteenth century and extending through the twentieth century.
The book combines visual material with written texts that shed extensive light on the subject through historical, social, and archaeological analysis and presentation. It also provides numerous explanations accompanying the photographs, paintings, maps, and architectural and archaeological designs, placing before the reader documented and accurate information that helps illuminate the many elements contained in the book. This is complemented by biographical and bibliographical accounts of the travelers and artists who came to the Arabian Peninsula throughout its various eras and stages, despite their differing identities and backgrounds.
The visual materials were produced by more than 100 artists and were carefully and precisely selected by Khazindar from large collections of photographs and paintings, as well as historical books and travel accounts produced by writers and artists inspired by the world of the Arabian Peninsula. The region was described, as French Orientalist Philippe Cardinal states in his introduction to the book, as “one of the most mysterious regions in the world.” Most of these writers and artists were outsiders to the region, which may explain the nature of the book’s title itself: “Visions from Abroad.”
In her study “The Image of Women in Western Journeys to Central Arabia,” the researcher documented the observations recorded by 28 explorers, including the British William Gifford Palgrave, the Polish Wacław Seweryn Rzewuski, the Finnish George Wallin, the Frenchman Charles Huber, the German Eduard Nolde, and the British Gertrude Bell. Their accounts included scenes that were offensive, amusing, and astonishing, covering circumstances of both peace and war and extending across both urban settlements and the Bedouin desert.
The relationship between some Western explorers and the region eventually reached a degree of integration into its social fabric, accompanied by their dedication to defending it. Some even fought alongside its warriors, as happened with William Henry, who died in the fierce Battle of Jurab while fighting alongside the men of King Abdulaziz, the founder of the present-day Saudi state.
Some of these travelers also married after embracing Islam and changing their names, transforming themselves from travelers into determined defenders of the people of the Arabian Peninsula. Among them were Muhammad Asad (Leopold Weiss) and Abdullah Philby, who produced numerous works on the geography of Saudi Arabia and its political history. His name had been Harry St. John Philby before he embraced Islam and changed it.
References:
· https://www.alriyadh.com/26063
