Illustrations from Voyage en Nubie et en Abyssinie entrepris pour découvrir les sources du Nil
1790
National Library of France
Paris, France
Geographic and geopolitical exploration was of great interest to European powers in their quest to effectively penetrate the region in search of raw materials and new markets for trade. Finding the source of the Nile held a fascination for many explorers, for whoever managed to discover it was guaranteed fame and fortune.
19th century
National Museum of Anthropology
Madrid, Spain
This kaftan belonged to the Spanish naturalist and zoologist Manuel Martínez de la Escalera (1867–1949), who undertook scientific expeditions throughout the Middle East in the 1890s. He subsequently established important collections of zoological and other natural specimens, antiquities and folkloric items.
19th century
Cerralbo Museum
Madrid, Spain
This waistcoat was collected by Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa (1845–1922), 17th Marquis of Cerralbo. A Spanish aristocrat, Cerralbo was a highly respected archaeologist and historian, who built up important collections during his travels in the East.
The Victoria Nile - At Rionga's Island
19th century
National Library of France
Paris, France
It is disputed as to whether it was British explorer John Hanning Speke or his commander Captain Richard Burton who discovered the source of the Nile in 1858. In any case, their quest combined the thirst for knowledge with the imperialist conviction and personal ambitions typical of many 19th-century European explorers.
19th century
Istanbul University, Nadir Eserler Kütüphanesi (Rare Books Library)
Istanbul, Turkey
The Dinner held at Delphi in Honour of the Painter by the Elder of the Village at Chryso
Early 19th century
Benaki Museum
Athens, Greece
Artists conveyed a large amount of valuable scholarly information back to Europe too. The dinner seen here was held in honour of the Irish artist and archaeological writer Edward Dodwell (1767–1832) to mark his return from a journey across Ottoman Greece in search of its ancient roots. Dodwell’s influential books on Ottoman Greece include A Classical and Topographical Tour through Greece (1819) and Views in Greece (1821).
Ali Bey (Domingo Badia y Leblich), Traveller
c. 1816
National Museum of Romanticism
Madrid, Spain
Many scientists, scholars and explorers also secretly gathered information for their governments while in the East. ‘Ali Bey (a pseudonym for Domingo Badia; 1767–1818), was a Spanish explorer and spy who travelled across the Ottoman Empire and North Africa disguised as a Syrian prince.
1825
Benaki Museum
Athens, Greece
In this scene, the French painter Louis Dupré conveys fascinating details about the traditional rituals at an Athenian wedding: the bride is waiting while the groom is ritually shaved. Dupré, like many of his contemporaries contributed to increasing “knowledge” about the Orient in Europe, but unfortunately not all of this contribution was accurate.
Portrait of a Greek Wearing a Fustanela
c. 1830
Benaki Museum
Athens, Greece
Louis Dupré (1798–1837) was famous in France for his philhellene and Orientalist artworks that, at the time, were perceived to convey accurate ethnographic detail. Travelling in Greece and the Ottoman Empire in the early 1820s, like many, he had set out in search of antiquity but merely by chance had discovered instead the “living” Orient.
1839
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Weltmuseum
Vienna, Austria
In 1897/8, the Austrian Academy of Science dispatched a scientific expedition under Captain Paul Edler von Pott to explore the Red Sea and its shores. A lot of scientific data was gathered, but in addition ethnographically and artistically intriguing items such as this Bedouin coat were collected.
1840
National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) / Museums of the University of Lisbon
Lisbon, Portugal
Many European scientists focused on the flora and fauna of the region. This sheet, a Herbarium, shows three fruiting specimens of Aegilops ovate, collected in Algeria in May 1840 by the Scientific Commission of Argelia (Algeria) under the supervision of the French naturalist M. Durieu.
c. 1839
National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) / Museums of the University of Lisbon
Lisbon, Portugal
1850
National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) / Museums of the University of Lisbon
Lisbon, Portugal
Map of the Network of Caravans
1856
Austrian State Archives
Vienna, Austria
The Austro-Hungarian Empire, like her European competitors, was keen to advance her economic and commercial interests in the Arab and Ottoman world. Knowledge of established regional transport networks as well as intelligence concerning local industries was of vital importance in this endeavour.
The French Colonies. Book 26. M. de Brazza's Exploration 1875–79. His treaty with Makoko.
1892
National Library of France
Paris, France
1896
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Weltmuseum
Vienna, Austria
Karl Alexander Anselm Freiherr von Hügel, the owner of this lamp, was an Austrian naturalist and botanist as well as being a diplomat who gathered information for his government. He visited Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine in 1831 and, like many of his contemporaries collected information outside his field of expertise.
1907
Benaki Museum
Athens, Greece
It was not only ancient Egypt that fascinated European scholars. Qusayr ‘Amra, an early Islamic desert palace in present-day Jordan with a bathhouse complex, was first published by Alois Musil (1868–1944), an Austro-Hungarian polymath – Catholic theologian, explorer, writer and spy.
Photo documenting the discovery of the Tutankhamun tomb
1922
Bibliotheca Alexandrina
Alexandria, Egypt
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many European scholars visited Egypt in search of an ancient past that was recounted in the Bible and through the Christian education system. The Tomb of Tutankhamun was discovered by the British Egyptologist Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings in Upper Egypt in 1922.
The objects found in the tomb of Tutankhamun
1922
Bibliotheca Alexandrina
Alexandria, Egypt
The archaeology of ancient Egypt had fascinated Europeans ever since the French invasion in the late 18th century. Artists such as the Scottish painter David Roberts further popularised the topic with paintings and lithographs. The discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922 led to a global craze that was fed by the recent availability of mass media.