Nederlands Instituut in Turkije
Hollanda AraştIrma Enstİtüsü      Netherlands Institute in Turkey

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Lecture  March 5, 2010 (18:00) Jan Schmidt (Leiden University): Dutch travel accounts on the Ottoman Empire 1590-1800 Abstract Dutchmen had  – and still have – a reputation of being great travellers. From the period when Dutchmen were successfully fighting their war of independence, soon followed in 1612 with the establishment of regular diplomatic relations between The Hague and the Sublime Porte, a growing number of Dutchmen found their way to the heartland of the Ottoman Empire, mostly as traders. Only a few of them, however, wrote about their experience as travellers to, in and from the Empire during the early modern period. Travel accounts written during that period can be counted on the fingers of two hands. Only a few of them were published at the time and some of the more fragmentary texts have never been published. During the last decade, four interesting texts, which had hitherto led a shadowy existence on the shelves of Dutch archives and libraries, have come to light. Three of them were published. This presentation aims at throwing some light on this small but interesting literature. Among the topics to be discussed are the background of the writers, the nature of their travel, their descriptions of Istanbul, their contact with local Ottomans and their observations on striking aspects of Ottoman culture like sexual mores and the consumption of pleasurable substances. Özet Hollandalılar her zaman ve günümüzde de büyük gezginler olmaları ile ün salmışlardır. Başarılı bir şekilde bağımsızlıkları için savaştıkları ve 1612’de Lahey ve Bab-ı Ali arasında düzenli ilişkilerin kurulması ile devam eden dönemden itibaren, çoğunluğunu tüccarların oluşturduğu Hollandalılar Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nun kalbine yolculuklar yapmışlardır. Bu ziyaretlerin giderek çoğalan sayısına rağmen, gezginlerden sadece birkaçı Erken Modern dönemde İmparatorluğa yaptıkları yolculukları hakkındaki deneyimlerini kâğıda dökmüştür. Bu dönemde yazılmış olan seyahatnamelerin sayısı iki elin parmaklarını geçmemektedir. Bu eserlerden yalnızca birkaç tanesi bu dönemde yayımlanmış, parçalar halindeki metinlerin bazıları ise hiç yayımlanmamıştır. Son on yıl boyunca, bu döneme kadar Hollanda arşiv ve kütüphanelerinde belli belirsiz varlıklarını sürdürmüş olan dört ilginç metin gün ışığına çıkmıştır. Bu metinlerden üç tanesi yayımlanmıştır. Bu sunum, söz konusu küçük fakat ilginç eserlere ışık tutmayı amaçlamaktadır. Tartışılacak konular arasında yazarların geçmişleri, seyahatlerinin niteliği, İstanbul’u tarif edişleri, Osmanlılar ile iletişimleri ve cinsel adetler ve keyif verici madde kullanımı gibi Osmanlı kültürünün çarpıcı yönleri üzerine yaptıkları gözlemler yer almaktadır.

Previous activities 2010 Lecture Qala’at Halwanji — a 4000 year old fortress in Syria Jesper Eidem (NINO) 18 February 2010 (more information) Lecture Doing research on Ottoman women and the International Women's Movement or, how to turn into an armchair scholar Nicole van Os (Leiden University) 10 February 2010 (more information) 2009 Symposium Connections in Past and present. Istanbul Graduate Symposium on Archaeology, 19 December, 2009 (more information) Symposium Museums and Display. Stories in a showcase  13-14 November, 2009 (more information) Seminars Archaeobotany Seminars at NIT with René Cappers 6, 7, 8 October, 2009 (more information) Masterclasses New Approaches in Archaeobotany 5-9 October 2009  (read more) Fifth Workshop of the Global Collaboratory on the History of Labour Relations International Institute of Social History (IISG) with NIT 25-26 September 2009 Symposium Ottoman Biographical Sources I: The Sixteenth Century Ottoman Biographer Aşık Çelebi and His Work June 19, 2009  (more information) Lecture Experimentalism in Turkish literature: Adalet Ağaoğlu's YazSonu Petra de Bruijn (Leiden University) June 11, 2009 (more information) Lecture The 2nd Neolithic Revolution in Asia Minor: Evaluating Possible Causes Bleda S. Düring (Leiden University) May 21, 2009 (more information) Lecture Fritz Rudolf Kraus in Istanbul (1937-1949) and the development of Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Turkey Jan Schmidt (Leiden University), May 11, 2009  (more information) Lecture Depraved Borderlands - Love Affairs Between Muslims and non-Muslims in Dutch Literature from the Middle Ages until today Sjoerd-Jeroen Moenandar (Groningen University), May 6, 2009 (more information) Lecture On clocks and dreams: the novel Saatleri Ayarlama Enstitüsü [Time Regulation Institute] by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar Hanneke van der Heijden (translator), April 6, 2009 (more information) 2nd Workshop on Neolithic Anatolia 2-3 March 2009 at Istanbul University  The Neolithic Period in Western Anatolia and Thrace: Attempt for Sharing Information and Constructing a Chronology  Organizing institutions: Department of Prehistory of Istanbul University - Department of Archaeology of Aegean University - Netherlands Institute in Turkey Lecture Empires, Cities, Sanctuaries. Imperial Patronage of Sanctuaries in Asia Minor and beyond, ca. 550 BCE-950 CE Rolf Strootman January 28, 2009 (more information)   2008 >>> 2007 >>> 2006 >>>