Travels in Syria and the Holy Land

by John Lewis Burckhardt

John Lewis Burckhardt (1784–1817) was a Swiss explorer who is best remembered for his rediscovery of the ancient city of Petra in modern Jordan. In 1809 he was commissioned by the African Association to discover the source of the River Niger. In preparation for this journey, for which he needed to pass as a Muslim, Burckhardt spent two years exploring and studying Arabic and Islamic law in Aleppo, before travelling widely in Arabia and Egypt. This book provides 'a view of Arabian life and manners in every degree, from the Bedouin camp to the populous city', but the most striking passages describe the ruins of Petra, and especially its sumptuously carved Nabataean tombs. Burckhardt also records his frustration at not being able to explore freely and make notes, but these activities would have laid him open to suspicion of being a spy or an infidel, and almost certain death.

Genres: History, Middle East, Travel, Nonfiction, Biography

720 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1850

About the author

Johann Ludwig (also known as John Lewis, Jean Louis) Burckhardt (November 24, 1784 – October 15, 1817) was a Swiss/English traveller and orientalist. He wrote his letters in French and signed Louis. He is best known for rediscovering the ruins of the city of Petra in Jordan.

During his residence in Syria, Burckhardt visited Palmyra, Damascus, Lebanon and made a series of other exploratory trips in the region. One of these trips, in what is now modern-day Jordan, resulted in his 'discovery' of the extensive and unique ruins of Petra which had been undiscovered for nearly a millennium. Unsatisfied with the magnitude of this discovery he was determined to carry on with his original aim to uncover the source of the River Niger. Thus he in 1812 went to Cairo with the intention of joining a caravan to Fezzan, in Libya.

Burckhardt temporarily abandoned this goal to travel up the Nile as far as Dar Mahass; and then, finding it impossible to penetrate westward, he made a journey through the Nubian desert in the character of a poor Syrian merchant, passing by Berber and Shendi to Suakin, on the Red Sea, whence he performed the pilgrimage to Mecca by way of Jidda. At Mecca he stayed three months and afterwards visited Medina.

After enduring privations and sufferings of the severest kind, he returned to Cairo in June 1815 in a state of great exhaustion; but in the spring of 1816 he travelled to Mount Sinai, whence he returned to Cairo in June, and there again made preparations for his intended journey to Fezzan. Several hindrances prevented his prosecuting this intention, and finally, in April 1817, when the long-expected caravan prepared to depart, he was seized by dysentery[2] and died on 15 October. He had from time to time carefully transmitted to England his journals and notes, and a copious series of letters, so very few details of his journeys have been lost. He bequeathed his collection of 800 volumes of oriental manuscripts to the library of Cambridge University.

Reviews

[تامر راضي · Rating 5 out of 5]

اسم الكتاب: رحلات في سوريا والديار المقدّسة

الكاتب: جون لويس بركهارت. رحالة ومؤرخ سويسري
1784 - 1817

هذا الكتاب عبارة عن سرد تاريخي وديموغرافيا وصفية ذكرها المؤرّخ من خلال رحلاته في بلاد الشام.. ذكر بها الطرق والأودية والجبال والتضاريس وعدد المنازل وعاداتهم وطبيعة حياتهم.. فمن أراد أن يعرف التاريخ لبلده قبل قرنين من الزمن، أنصحه بقراءة هذا الكتاب.

[نواف الفقير]

nice

[Abdallah Badarneh]

Good

[Reme99 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

[مالك الحويطي · Rating 5 out of 5]

جميل