The last caravan : camels, traders and markets in the Middle East / Philippe Pétriat.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pétriat, Philippe, 1985- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Caravans--Middle East--History.

Caravans.

Middle East--Commerce--History.

Middle East.

Middle East--Economic conditions.

Middle East--Politics and government.

Middle East--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 292 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2024.

Summary:

What can travelling camels tell us about the history of the interior of the Middle East? In this innovative book Philippe Pétriat demonstrates how caravans - groups of travellers, often on trade expeditions, journeying together for mutual protection in hostile regions - are essential to understanding the history of the inside territories of the Ottoman Empire with its neighbours. From the first use of camels in transport, through to the decline of the caravan from the 1930s onwards, Pétriat reconstructs the land routes of these travellers through vast steppes and deserts in captivating detail. Moving discussions of the political economy of the Ottoman and post-Ottoman Middle East beyond analysis of the coastal regions and maritime exchanges with Western countries, The Last Caravan instead reveals the pivotal importance of the Ottoman and Arab merchants in the suburbs of the cities and the rural markets and the travelling nomads and the animals that supported them.

Contents:

Introduction: The long history of caravans between Palmyra and Bukhara

Caravans exposed: The management of insecurity in the Steppe between Baghdad and Damascus

The political economy of a regional trade in the second half of the nineteenth century (1850s-1900s)

Caravan business in the age of steam ships and railroads

Crossing borders: Overland trade in the post-Ottoman Middle East (1910s-1930s)

The end of caravans (1930-1950s)

Conclusion: Where have the caravans gone?

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 10 Jan 2025).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781009524551

1009524550

9781009524537

1009524534

9781009524544

1009524542