COLLECTION NAME:
David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
Record
Author:
Monastery Of San Lazzaro Press (Armenian Mekhitarist Order)
Date:
1900
Short Title:
ԱՐԵՒԵԼՔ [transliterated as Arevelk’, meaning ‘The East’, or ‘The Orient’].
Publisher:
Monastery Of San Lazzaro Press (Armenian Mekhitarist Order)
Publisher Location:
Venice
Type:
Separate Map
Obj Height cm:
94
Obj Width cm:
118
Scale 1:
2,500,000
Country:
Turkey
Region:
Ottoman Empire
Subject:
Ottoman Mapping
Full Title:
ԱՐԵՒԵԼՔ [transliterated as Arevelk’, meaning ‘The East’, or ‘The Orient’].: Imp. Armeìnienne de St. Lazare,
List No:
13553.000
Publication Author:
Monastery Of San Lazzaro Press (Armenian Mekhitarist Order)
Pub Date:
1900
Pub Title:
ԱՐԵՒԵԼՔ [transliterated as Arevelk’, meaning ‘The East’, or ‘The Orient’].
Pub Note:
Outline color map of Ottoman Empire in Asia, in Europe, and in Africa. On sheet 102 x 129, backed with linen. Published in old Armenian, by the Armenian Catholic monks of Printing House of St. Lazzaro, Venice. Includes inset map, legend statistical tables and text. Shows political and administrative boundaries, cities, towns, rivers, and mountains. Relief shown by shadings. In 1717 San Lazzaro was ceded by the Re to Mkhitar Sebastatsi an Armenian Catholic monk, who established a monastery with his followers. It has since been the headquarters of the Mekhitarists and, as such, one of the world's prominent centers of Armenian culture and Armenian studies. Numerous important publications were made in the island by the monks which made it an early major center of Armenian printing. "The present map focusses upon the ‘core’ regions of the Ottoman Empire (including Istanbul, Thrace, Anatolia, the Levant and Iraq; but excluding the Sultan’s lands in Arabia, Libya and southwestern Balkans). It is entitled ԱՐԵՒԵԼՔ (transliterated as Arevelk’, meaning ‘The East’, or ‘The Orient’), which was then a popular Armenian colloquial term for the Ottoman lands, which carried the benefit of being politically neutral during a tense era. The term was employed in a variety of ways, perhaps most notably as the title of one of Istanbul’s leading Armenian language newspapers. The map was issued by the press of the Mekhitarist Monastery in Venice, which by this time had for almost two centuries been the most important source of Armenian print culture in the world. The map would have been made for use in Armenian schools throughout Europe and the Near and Middle East, and its subject would have been of particular importance to the Armenian people. Most of territories of the historic Armenian sovereign nations (which existed in various forms from the 9th Century BC until 1375) were then a part of the Ottoman Empire. In 1900, approximately 2 million ethnic Armenians lived in the Sultan’s domains, accounting for over 10% of its total population. While Armenians occupied positions at the highest levels of government, commerce and culture in Istanbul many other major cities, many more lived difficult lives in relative poverty, under political repression, in the vilayets of Eastern Anatolia. This fueled tensions between the Armenians and their Turkish and Kurdish neighbours, as well as fostering an Armenian independence movement which was seen as grave by the Sublime Porte, so setting a course for the tragedy of the Armenian Genocide (1914-23). While the present map is undated, analysis of some of its most interesting features reveals that it was issued during or close to the year 1900. Principally, the state of the Ottoman Empire’s railway system as depicted on the map is helpful in placing the time of publication, showing the state of play as it stood in 1896, after several key projects were completed, but before the final phase of the expansion of the empire’s railroads. Of note, the Anatolian Railway is shown to run from Istanbul down southeast across part of Anatolia to Konya, which was achieved in 1896. There the project rested until 1903, when a German-backed syndicate endeavoured to transform the railway into the Baghdad Railway (Bagdadbahn), which was to connect Istanbul to the heart of Iraq (while partially built by the end of World War I, it would not be completed until 1940). In the Balkans, to the west of Istanbul, one can see the line of the Thessaloniki–Alexandroupoli Railway, a 440 km long line that connected what was then Salonika with Dedeağaç (Alexandroupoli), completed in 1895. This railway then linked up with the mainline of the Rumelian Railway (which carried the Orient Express), and then on to Istanbul. In the Levant, one can see the Jaffa–Jerusalem Railway, completed in 1892. Further north are the connecting lines of the Hauran Railway, which ran from Damascus to Muzeirib, Syria, opened in 1894, as well as the Beirut-Damascus Railway, completed in 1895. Critically, the map shows no trace of the construction of the Hejaz Railway, which was to connect Damascus with Medina, the building of which commenced in 1901. On another note, the extensive array of charts in the lower left quadrant of the map details vital statistics on the Ottoman Empire. The population figures seem to be provisional estimates from between the 1893 and 1905 imperial censuses, citing the general national population at 18,498,720. It is also worth noting that the latest date mentioned in the statistical tables is ‘1896’." (Alexander Johnson and Dasa Pahor, 2020)
Pub List No:
13553.000
Pub Type:
Separate Map
Pub Height cm:
94
Pub Width cm:
116
Image No:
13553000.jp2
Authors:
Monastery Of San Lazzaro Press (Armenian Mekhitarist Order)
![ԱՐԵՒԵԼՔ [transliterated as Arevelk’, meaning ‘The East’, or ‘The Orient’].](https://media.davidrumsey.com/MediaManager/srvr?mediafile=/Size3/RUMSEY~8~1/185/13553000.jpg)