Category Archives: Travel

Picturing Egypt a Century Ago

Architecture, Egypt, Food and Drink, Photography, Travel
Cairo around 1920

In 1921 one of the many geographical/travel books published was the The Human Interest Library: Visualized Knowledge (Chicago: Midland Press). In volume IV there is a brief account of Egypt, mainly on the archaeological wonders. But there are several photographs that are of interest. I include the captions from the text. Unfortunately neither the date nor the photographer are indicated, but let us assume that they represent life in Egypt in the first couple of decades of the last century. There is also a summary of information about Egypt at the time, as noted below.

“An Arab Cafe: These cafes are picturesque places where one sees the street life of Cairo at its best. Note the more humble style of the Turkish pipe smoked by this Arab without being set on the floor.”
“One of the oldest forms of irrigation machinery in the world. The captive Hebrews in Mosaic times probably heard the creak of the ungreased wheels and watched the water gush forth from the pottery buckets which are fastened to the endless grass ropes.”
“Sakkahs, or Water-Carriers: These men are sometimes negroes, as the seated man in the picture, as well as the boy who has taken water to drink from him. They are usually dervishes of the lowest grade, and are sometimes inclined to be fanatical. They are picturesque as well as a very necessary feature of Egyptian life.”

Mountains of Central Asia Digital Dataset

Afghanistan, Archaeology and Antiquities, Books You Should Read, Central Asia, Folklore and Proverbs, Languages, Orientalist Images, Syria, Teaching Resources, Travel

This Mountains of Central Asia Digital Dataset (MCADD) consists of a collection of books, journals and maps related broadly to the Himalayas and its outlying attached ranges including the Hindu Kush, the Karakorams, the Pamirs, the Tian Shan and the Kuen Lun as well as the Tibetan highlands and the Tarim basin. These materials are housed in this site, and are freely available for personal non-commercial use and downloading.

Some of this material was originally downloaded from the Google Books website, but often this material from Google has been augmented by the addition of maps and other oversize materials that were excluded when the original Google scans were done and/or the addition of missing pages. For example, the Google scans of the 50 volumes of the Royal Geographical Society Journal, published between 1830 and 1880 do not include any of the oversize maps—these maps have all now been scanned and some 450 maps added in their proper location to each of the journal volume pdf files on the PAHAR website.

Various aids to searching specific topics, such as indexes of articles related to the MCADD geographic area (Himalaya, Tibet and Central Asia) have also been prepared for the more prolific journals, such as those of the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Central Asian Society, and the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Continue reading Mountains of Central Asia Digital Dataset →

Huckabeeswax

Archaeology and Antiquities, Bible and Holy Land, Humor and Satire, Israel, Luke R. E. Publican, Palestine, Travel

The Republican Party, inebriated with tea partisanship, seems to shoot itself in its elephantine trunk in attracting presidential candidates. This certainly worked to Romney’s favor last time around, as he certainly looked far more presidential than “what-was-the-third-one” Rick Perry, Call 999 and pay your taxes Mr. Cain, Sarah “I can see Alaska from my bedroom” Palin, Ron “I will run even when I am in my grave” Paul and the other circus acts that paraded through the primaries in 2012. Once again we are seeing a run (at the mouth some times) of former Governor and Fox News celebrity Mike Huckabee. He is apparently willing to overlook the fact that having two presidents from the state of Arkansas within only a couple of decades is going against Las Vegas odds. But here he is again, hitting the mash potato and Bible verse quoting circuit and about as Iowa bound as a candidate can get.

The latest bit of Huckabeeswax has a nasty sting to it. Echoing the Gold Meir canard that there are no “Palestinians” on his most recent Bible Land tour (I suspect that Huckabee is guilty of not reading Twain’s Innocents Abroad), the Arkansas traveler said that there aint no such thing (well he is reported to have said “is” no such thing but who knows what the meaning of “is” really is) as a Palestinian. “The idea that they have a long history, dating back hundreds or thousands of years, is not true,” Huckabee said.

So if there are no “Palestinians” but only “Arabs” who made up the term to spite Israel and drive them into the sea, who exactly was living in Eretz Israel before 1948. Here are some scenarios. Continue reading Huckabeeswax →

The Floating Basket Homes of Iraq

Architecture, Folklore and Proverbs, Iraq, Photography, Travel

MessyNessy has put a page about the Marsh Arabs with some fabulous pictures. Check it out here.

It was Iraq’s ‘Garden of Eden’; unique wetlands in southern Iraq where a people known as the Ma’dan, or ‘Arabs of the marsh’, lived in a Mesopotamian Venice, characterised by beautifully elaborate floating houses made entirely of reeds harvested from the open water.

Those Levantine British Libertines…

Agriculture, Archaeology and Antiquities, Iraq, Syria, Travel

[Webshaykh’s Note: This study is perhaps a bit dated and overstretched, but it can help explain why Iraq and Syria still matter (well, sort of…). I sort of doubt all the handsome men were farmers back then… or could it be that handsome Turks turned the eyes of lassies in Ireland independent of their farming expertise?]

Most Britons descended from male farmers who left Iraq and Syria 10,000 years ago (and were seduced by the local hunter-gatherer women)

By David Derbyshire for MailOnlineUpdated: 13:37 GMT, 20 January 2010

Most Britons are direct descendants of farmers who left modern day Iraq and Syria 10,000 years ago, a new study has shown.

After studying the DNA of more than 2,000 men, researchers say they have compelling evidence that four out of five white Europeans can trace their roots to the Near East.

The discovery is shedding light on one of the most important periods of human history – the time when our ancient ancestors abandoned hunting and began to domesticate animals. Continue reading Those Levantine British Libertines… →