Antalya in the 19th century from the Western travellers' perspective

After the 16th century, the desire to see the East, which emerged especially in the West, was also valid for the Ottoman lands. Travels by Westerners to Ottoman lands increased, particularly in the nineteenth century, with trips known as the Grand Tour. Especially in this period, with the discovery of ancient regions, travels to Western Anatolia and the Eastern Mediterranean became some of the most interesting routes. During this period, especially English and French travellers, mainly Western travellers, made trips to the Lycian region, which includes Antalya, and published their impressions of the city in the form of travel writings, travelogues, memoirs, or letters. Travel books, which have an important place among historical sources, have started to be examined in terms of urban historiography in recent years. The impressions of travellers who came to Ottoman cities, particularly in Western sources, are very important in terms of learning the daily lifestyle as well as revealing the city's political, social, and economic life at the time. Within the scope of the study, it is intended to evaluate travel books published by travellers who visited Antalya between 1800 and 1876 and compare them to official Ottoman records. According to the findings obtained within the scope of the study, the primary purpose of the travellers visiting Antalya was to examine the ancient ruins in the city, so the social life and impressions in the city did not contain much detail. However, the natural beauties of the city have been a subject on which all travellers agree. While travellers in general give more detailed information about the minorities and their lives in the city, their impressions of Turkish society are more limited. One of the results revealed by the examination of the travelogues was that the impressions of Antalya in the travelogues written at the beginning of the 19th century were a guide for other travelogues and that they were repeated in other travelogues for this reason. Keywords: Travelogue, Antalya, Antalya History, 19th Century, 19th Century Travellers