Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Un acercamiento etnográfico a una ciudad otomana de finales del siglo XVIII: El Viage a Esmirna de Pedro María González

2009; University of Granada; Volume: 29; Linguagem: Inglês

10.4321/s0211-95362009000100002

2340-7948

Guillermo Olagüe de Ros,

Medieval History and Crusades

In the summer of 1796, Pedro María González, a surgeon trained at the College of Cadiz, took part in an expedition commissioned by the Cadiz Consulate with the aim of initiating trading relationships with Smyrna, the most important commercial centre in the Ottoman Empire. On his return, he wrote a document to facilitate future business ventures by Spaniards, describing in detail the customs and traditions of the various social and ethnic groups that inhabited the city of Smyrna. In this paper, I analyse the view of the Turks held by Europeans in the 17th and 18th centuries and the ideological and conceptual factors underlying their negative opinions. I then describe the viewpoint of González himself, especially in relation to Jews, the ethnic group he studied in greatest depth. The fact that they shared a common language, Spanish, undoubtedly facilitated his relationships and his close analysis.