: Lawrence J. Baack
: Undying Curiosity Carsten Niebuhr and The Royal Danish Expedition to Arabia 1761-1767
: Franz Steiner Verlag
: 9783515107730
: Oriens et Occidens
: 1
: CHF 71.00
:
: Altertum
: English
: 443
: Wasserzeichen/DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: PDF
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.'

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.
Contents8
Acknowledgments12
Introduction16
Chapter One26
The Idea of the Expedition: “Benefit for the World of Scholarship”26
Michaelis’ Proposal: Arabia and the Search for Meaning in the Bible27
Johann David Michaelis and the Georgia Augusta University in Göttingen31
Why Denmark and Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff?37
Assembling the Team: The Philologist – Frederik Christian von Haven45
The Cartographer and his Teacher: Carsten Niebuhr and Tobias Mayer47
The Botanist – Peter Forsskål: An “Apostle” of Linnaeus56
Fragen an eine Gesellschaft gelehrter Männer: A European Exercise in Inquiry64
Bernstorff – the Manager Driving the Project: New Suggestions, Additions and Problems69
Niebuhr and his Instruments: A Detour on the Lunar Distance Method and the Problem of Determining Longitude75
Changing the Route and The Royal Instructions82
Chapter Two93
Exploration and Death Learning about Egypt, the Red Sea and Yemen93
The Outbound Voyage – Copenhagen to Alexandria94
Introduction to Egypt: Alexandria, the Nile and Arrival in Cairo115
Niebuhr – Ethnography, Map Making, the Great Pyramids and Hieroglyphs120
Forsskål – The Flora Aegyptiaco137
Haven – Manuscripts and Hebrew Codices140
Frustration and Failure in the Sinai144
Sailing the Red Sea – Discovering Marine Life and Creating a Chart157
Scientific Discovery in Yemen: Exploring the Tih?mah and the Coffee Mountains173
A Tragic Ending in Yemen: al Mukh? – ?an‘?’ – Bombay183
Chapter Three204
The Solitary Explorer The Long Journey Home: India, the Persian Gulf and Lands of the Middle East204
Rejuvenation and Inspiration: A Brief Exposure to The Culture of Western India205
The Voyage from Bombay to al Ba?rah: Oman, Persepolis and Pirates of the Persian Gulf216
“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 Levant236
From Caravans to Kings: The End of the Expedition276
Chapter Four285
Presenting The Expedition To The World and The Expedition’s Significance For The Eighteenth Century285
The Struggle to Publish the Findings of the Expedition287
From Geography to Botany: The Results of the Expedition296
Geography298
Cartography315
Navigational Astronomy317
Antiquities and Archeology323
The Natural Sciences332
Philology337
The Evaluation of Niebuhr’s Works in the 18th Century and Since341
Epilogue Niebuhr’s Return to a Rural Tradition: The Meldorf Years, 1778–1815344
Conclusion355
List of Illustrations, Maps and Charts403
Bibliography of Published Sources405
Index433