Baack Undying Curiosity

Carsten Niebuhr and The Royal Danish Expedition to Arabia 1761–1767
1. Auflage 2014
ISBN: 978-3-515-10773-0
Verlag: Franz Steiner
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Deutsch, Englisch, Band 22, 443 Seiten, E-Book-Text

Reihe: Oriens et Occidens

In 1801, the nominations to the French Institut des sciences et des arts, the former French Academy, included Immanuel Kant, Johann Gottfried Herder, Thomas Jefferson, Friedrich Klopstock, Arthur Young, Joseph Priestly and Carsten Niebuhr. The first six are seminal figures of the 18th Century, but who was Carsten Niebuhr and why was he considered worthy of membership in Europe's most prestigious society? The answer is that it was Niebuhr who gave to European readers perhaps the most accurate, multifaceted and open-minded portrait of the Middle East published in the 18th Century, an account that is still highly respected for its scholarship today. This e-book is the first comprehensive, multidisciplinary study of his achievement and that of his colleagues as members of the Danish Expedition to Arabia. It is an examination of an encounter between the Northern European Enlightenment and the cultural, physical and ecological domains of the Middle East, and of the knowledge in many scholarly fields that this encounter produced. Drawing on extensive archival research, including field journals and correspondence, it paints in the context of the 18th Century, a vivid picture of the ideas behind, the field experience of, and the scientific results produced by what the London Times has called "One of the most extraordinary journeys of all time."

Autoren/Hrsg.

Baack, Lawrence J.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Geschichte: Expeditionen & Entdeckungen
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wissenschafts- und Universitätsgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Naher & Mittlerer Osten

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Contents;8
2;Acknowledgments;12
3;Introduction;16
4;Chapter One;26
4.1;The Idea of the Expedition: “Benefit for the World of Scholarship”;26
4.2;Michaelis’ Proposal: Arabia and the Search for Meaning in the Bible;27
4.3;Johann David Michaelis and the Georgia Augusta University in Göttingen;31
4.4;Why Denmark and Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff?;37
4.5;Assembling the Team: The Philologist – Frederik Christian von Haven;45
4.6;The Cartographer and his Teacher: Carsten Niebuhr and Tobias Mayer;47
4.7;The Botanist – Peter Forsskål: An “Apostle” of Linnaeus;56
4.8;Fragen an eine Gesellschaft gelehrter Männer: A European Exercise in Inquiry;64
4.9;Bernstorff – the Manager Driving the Project: New Suggestions, Additions and Problems;69
4.10;Niebuhr and his Instruments: A Detour on the Lunar Distance Method and the Problem of Determining Longitude;75
4.11;Changing the Route and The Royal Instructions;82
5;Chapter Two;93
5.1;Exploration and Death Learning about Egypt, the Red Sea and Yemen;93
5.2;The Outbound Voyage – Copenhagen to Alexandria;94
5.3;Introduction to Egypt: Alexandria, the Nile and Arrival in Cairo;115
5.4;Niebuhr – Ethnography, Map Making, the Great Pyramids and Hieroglyphs;120
5.5;Forsskål – The Flora Aegyptiaco;137
5.6;Haven – Manuscripts and Hebrew Codices;140
5.7;Frustration and Failure in the Sinai;144
5.8;Sailing the Red Sea – Discovering Marine Life and Creating a Chart;157
5.9;Scientific Discovery in Yemen: Exploring the Tih?mah and the Coffee Mountains;173
5.10;A Tragic Ending in Yemen: al Mukh? – ?an‘?’ – Bombay;183
6;Chapter Three;204
6.1;The Solitary Explorer The Long Journey Home: India, the Persian Gulf and Lands of the Middle East;204
6.2;Rejuvenation and Inspiration: A Brief Exposure to The Culture of Western India;205
6.3;The Voyage from Bombay to al Ba?rah: Oman, Persepolis and Pirates of the Persian Gulf;216
6.4;“Do not order me to travel too hastily. Now is the time when I can learn something.”: The Lands and Peoples of Iraq and the Levant;236
6.5;From Caravans to Kings: The End of the Expedition;276
7;Chapter Four;285
7.1;Presenting The Expedition To The World and The Expedition’s Significance For The Eighteenth Century;285
7.2;The Struggle to Publish the Findings of the Expedition;287
7.3;From Geography to Botany: The Results of the Expedition;296
7.3.1;Geography;298
7.3.2;Cartography;315
7.3.3;Navigational Astronomy;317
7.3.4;Antiquities and Archeology;323
7.3.5;The Natural Sciences;332
7.3.6;Philology;337
7.4;The Evaluation of Niebuhr’s Works in the 18th Century and Since;341
7.5;Epilogue Niebuhr’s Return to a Rural Tradition: The Meldorf Years, 1778–1815;344
8;Conclusion;355
9;List of Illustrations, Maps and Charts;403
10;Bibliography of Published Sources;405
11;Index;433

Über Autor(innen)

Baack, Lawrence J.
Lawrence J. Baack is a retired professor of Modern European History, specializing in 18th and 19th Century Germany and Scandinavia. He also has a research speciality in Antarctica. He is a Phi Beta Kappa and Honors graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and received his Ph. D. from Stanford University. In retirement he has been a Visiting Scholar in History at Berkeley. He is the author of works on Prussia in the early 19th Century, on agrarian reform in 18th Century Denmark and a number of other studies including ones in the history of science and exploration. He has also participated in the United States Government's exploration and research activites in Antarctica, and is a former officer in the United States Navy.