Abstract
Azarbaijan in the Eyes of the Itinerant Karçınzade Süleyman Şükrü
Travelbooks have a significant place in the written documents of history. In travelbooks, travelers present information concerning people living in a country or a geographical place that they have traveled to, important aspects of historical, cultural, social and economic lives of the states established by them.
When deploying travelbooks written by various people with different purposes as a source by the historian, the historian attributes importance to the employment of techniques and methods specific to the research method of history. Travelbooks are exposed to carefully made internal and external critical review, what is correct is distinguished from what is incorrect and exagerrations are excluded. The author of the document, the period of the document, viewpoints reflected in the document, information included in the document are examined with a critical viewpoint by comparing and contrasting it with the other sources of that period.
In this study, information related to Azerbeijan in the travelbook entitled Seyahatü’l-Kübra (Great Traveling), which contains Turkish traveler Karçınzade Süleyman Şükrü’s trips to the Middle East, the Middle Asia, Europe and Russia between 1886-1907 is analyzed in the light of the data of history. The researcher gives prominence to comparing and contrasting the information reflected in the travelbook with the period and other written sources specific to the period.<
Keywords
Travelbooks, Karçınzade Süleyman Şükrü, Seyahatü’l-Kübra, Azerbeycan, Bakü, Tağıyev