Travel literature on Southeastern Europe – Eastern Mediterranean. Database

The objective of the project is to collect and systematise the contents of foreign-language travel literature (texts and illustrations) referring to Southeastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean from the 15th century to the early 20th century. The research project began in 1988 at what was then the Centre for Neohellenic Research, under the academic supervision of its then director Loukia Droulia. To date, the contents of published travel works concerning the area under study have been indexed through direct examination, resulting in approximately 2,500 records being entered into a Database. Each record includes information on:
(a) the specific publication,
(b) the travellers, their objectives, and their itinerary in detail (including a list of toponyms),
(c) the illustrations, which are entered into a separate database.

More specifically, the project focuses on:

• the digital utilisation of existing material within the framework of the Institute of Historical Research, in order to make it more widely accessible to the scholarly community,
• its interconnection with corresponding databases abroad,
• the indexing of travel narratives, both in foreign languages and Greek, including those from the first half of the 20th century,
• the systematic indexing of content from other travel-related sources, such as travel journals and guidebooks.