Preface

Summary

In the Preface, I describe the circumstances of writing this book on Persian travelers around the world in the nineteenth century. Here I outline the purpose of this book in describing in detail the totality of the travel accounts and not just a fragment of them that pertain to Europe, or anywhere else for that matter. In the Preface I survey the current condition of Muslims traveling around the world as the contemporary frame of reference for these nineteenth century travel narratives. I then outline the manner in which I place his book in the context of current world affairs. I argue why we need to retrieve these historical texts in a responsible and comprehensive way for a renewed interest in remapping the world in a more leveled and democratic manner. Before I plunge deeply into the thicket of the texts I examine in this book, I use the Preface to make my readers aware of the contemporary world in which we live, and in which a “Muslim travel ban” captures the daily headlines, and thus the significance of the immediately preceding centuries in reconfiguring our historical worldliness.