Touring Ottoman Lands – Murray’s Routes for Southwest Asia, 1850-1900

Project co-developed with the University Library.

Tourism as a modern phenomenon emerged during the 19th century. Its experiences and practices were constantly in flux, being mediated not only by advancements in transportation technologies but also by the increasing production of touristic ephemera, ranging from postcards to guidebooks.

19th-century tourist guidebooks provide valuable insights into the evolving nature of tourism. Designed to make unfamiliar destinations familiar and consumable to the new tourist classes, guidebooks offer a plethora of temporally and spatially encoded information about places. John Murray’s guidebooks were among the most prominent publications of this sort. They were set apart by the fact that rather than merely providing a list of attractions, they provided routes to be taken by the tourist.

The lands controlled by the Ottoman Empire held a particular allure for 19th-century tourists seeking sites of historical significance or an exotic 'eastern' experience. Consequently, some of the earliest guidebooks by John Murray focused on Southwest Asia, following the trend set by publications about continental Europe.

Three guidebooks published by John Murray in 1854, 1878, and 1895 extensively cover Southwest Asia across a period of significant change within the Ottoman Empire. By visualizing the suggested routes in these three books spanning the second half of the 19th century, this project aims to shed light on the evolving Ottoman tourist landscapes.