Western Views of Islam in the 18th Century

Paper Summary:

Western views of Islam in the 18th century can be explained in one word, Orientalism. To argue this, the research first defines the term and analyzes its presence in various texts, ranging from Eulogius's "Martyr of Cordova" to Ludovico di Varthema's "Itinerary" and ending with Sir Henry Blount's "A Voyage Into the Levant". Each of these texts represents a different era of Western views of Islam, but preserves within itself the Orientalism concept.

From the Paper:

"The Islamic threat was all the more real to the Christian world and it was important for intellects and well-educated men like Blount to "travel eastwards" (Blanks) and collect reliable data on Islam and its worshippers as an intrinsic step towards safeguarding against that threat and overcoming it. Thus, motives for travel to the Orient have changed and taken on a much more serious and survivalist aim. The Western view of Islam, at this point, is of an ever-approaching and `encroaching' threat that has to be blown off."

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