This lecture by Dr Gemma Masson concludes ASTENE’s excellent spring lecture series.
The 18th century in the Ottoman Empire was marked by a shift in the methods of international interaction which brought a great number of Europeans to Istanbul in a diplomatic role. As Masson notes, there is a temptation among historians to limit themselves to official despatches, personal correspondence and diaries of the official ambassadors. The definition of a diplomatic traveller, however, can and should be extended to include the families, staff and the whole retinue of these ambassadors and it is this wider classification that will be applied in this paper, which presents three very different travellers, all of whom came to Istanbul in the 18t century and formed part of a diplomatic household.
And who are these mysterious three travellers? You will have to attend to find out.
ç is the Assistant Editor of the Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations Journal at the University of Birmingham and holds a PhD specialising in 18th-century Istanbul.