The Travels of Mirza Abu Taleb Khan: in Asia, Africa, and Europe, during the years 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, and 1803

by Mirzah Abu Taleb Khan, Daniel O'Quinn (Editor), Charles Stewart (Translator)

In 1810, the orientalist scholar Charles Stewart translated and published an extraordinary travel narrative written by a Persian-speaking Indian poet and scholar named Mirza Abu Talib Khan. At the turn of the century, Abu Talib travelled from India to Africa, and on to Ireland, England, and France, where he recorded his observations of European culture with wit and precision. The narrative's vital and controversial account of British imperial society is one of the earliest examples of a colonial subject addressing the cultural dynamics of metropolitan Britain, and its complex critique of empire challenges many preconceptions about intercultural relations during this era. Following his European sojourn, Abu Talib's remarkable Shi'ite pilgrimage through present day Turkey and Iraq further enhances his meditation on the encounter between Islam and European modernity.

This Broadview edition includes a critical introduction and chronologies of the lives and works of Mirza Abu Talib and Charles Stewart. The appendices offer contemporary reviews of the narrative, selections of British orientalist discourse, and examples of proto-ethnographic writing from the period

458 pages, Paperback

First published November 20, 2008

Reviews

[آية · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting travel journal written by a former Indian tax collector in the early nineteenth century. Hoping for a change of atmosphere, he left India in 1799 in a world tour, stopping in South Africa and Ireland before staying in London for about a year, and then embarking on his return journey via Paris, Italy, Constantinople, Baghdad, various cities in Iran, and then finally coming home to Calcutta.

His observations as an Indian Muslim traveling to the lands of the British and other European colonizers are quite remarkable, and oftentimes ironic. He has an entire chapter, for example, commenting on the "defects of the English character," citing among them pride and bigotry and linking them directly to their sense of superior status and imperialism. Yet he also seems to be the type of person to have made friends quite easily, and conversed extensively with many high-ranking British nobles (including imperial officers, dukes, and even the king!).

As someone who isn't European, he sees such cities with fresh eyes and gives incredible insight into their nineteenth century life, culture, architecture, and society. I also appreciated his descriptions of the Muslim cities he's visited at the time and the various cultural quirks and amenities they had.

I really enjoyed this travel journal because I feel like I learned about very diverse cities in this time period as well as about Mirza Abu Taleb's unique, adventurous, sometimes haughty and dramatic character.