Photos from Hugo Grothe

"Geographische Charakterbilder"

The photographs reproduced here are from a series of his expedition of 1906-1907, published under the long title 'Geographical character pictures from Asiatic Turkey and the southern Mesopotamian-Iranian border mountains (Pusht-i-Kuh): A presentation of the surface structure, population, settlement and economy" (German: Geographische Charakterbilder aus der asiatischen Tuerkei und dem suedlichen Mesopotamisch-iranischen Randgebirge (Puscht-i-kuh) : Eine Darstellung der Oberflaechengestalt, Bevoelkerung, Siedlung und Wirtschaft. )

"Geographische Charakterbilder" is a rare and relatively unknown work. It contains 176 photographs on 88 separate, unbound sheets, showing landscapes, people and monuments in what is now southern and south-eastern Turkey, northern Syria and Iraq. The photographs are of great value to students of the history of the Middle East.

Hugo Grothe (1909)

Albert Louis Hugo Grothe (1869-1954) was a German politician, geographer and traveller. He had a keen interest in various fields such as economic development, anthropology, archaeology and geology. Between 1896 and 1912 he undertook several journeys to the Ottoman Empire, each of which he published about.

- in 1903" "auf türkischer Erde. Reisebilder und Studien" ("on Turkish soil. Travel pictures and studies")

- in 1911: "Meine Vorderasien-Expedition von 1906 und 1907" ("My expedition in the Middle East")

- in 1913: "Durch Albanien und Montenegro" ("Through Albania and Montenegro")

As his father was involved in the construction of the Berlin-Baghdad railway, he took a keen interest in promoting German interests in the Middle East. Reports from British representatives in the area show that they were highly suspicious of Grothe's intentions, fearing, among other things, that he was interested in oil exploration.