19th century sources

website of Jelle Verheij, historian

Brant, James

"Notes of a Journey through a part of Kurdistan, in the Summer of 1838

in: Journal of the Royal Geographical Society 10 (1841) pp.341-432


with geographical annotations

contents


Erzurum - Muş (341-451)

Muş - Lice (351 - 359)

Lice - Hani - Dicle - Maden - Mezra (ELazığ)  (359 - 366)

Mezre - Palu - Cevlik (Bingöl) - Solhan - Surp Karapet Monastery - Muş (366 -375)

Muş - Bitlis (375 - 379)

Bitlis - Van (379 - 389)

Van - Erciş - Adilcevaz - Diyadin - Beyazıt (389 - 420)

Beyazıt - Erzurum (420 - 432)

This travel report is the record of a three month journey from Erzurum via Muş, Lice, Hazro, Maden to Harput, and back via Bingöl, Muş, Van, Adilcevaz, Ahlat, Diyadin, and Doğubeyazıt.

On the way Brant meets Ottoman officials, beys and aghas, Kurdish tribesmen and Armenian peasants. The report is an indispensable source for the history of the period, just a few years after Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II with a series of violent campaigns established direct rule from Constantinople, ousting a large number of local rulers from power.

The plain of Göllü, Brant p. 385

© Jelle Verheij, 2006