ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

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Travelogue or travel description refers to the (literary) presentation of a traveller’s observations and experiences. Such descriptions vary greatly in content and value, depending on the purpose of the particular trip. They are often richly illustrated.

Definition

The term “travel literature” or “travel report” is defined in research as a generic term (Brunner/Moritz 1997) or as a collective term (Best 1976, Handbook of literary technical terms) for representations of “actual or fictional travel” (Brunner/Moritz 1997, Literature Lexicon: Basic Concepts of German Studies). According to Otto F. Best (1976), these are literary works “dedicated to the theme of travel”. Gero von Wilpert understands travel literature as “all of the material literature reporting on actual or fictitious travel”.

Travel literature includes as subgroups the travel guides, the scientific travel descriptions and the artistic and literary travel descriptions (Best 1976 & Brunner/Moritz 1997). This classification is not uncontroversial in research. It is usually for relief and guidance.

History and development
The oldest travelogues are those of Skylax of Koryanda and of Pytheas of Massilia. Both authors have described their own travels, Skylax his under the title Periplus, a term that was subsequently often applied to similar travel works. The history books of Herodotus, which contain a description of his travels, can also be considered as a travelogue. In contrast, there is no actual travel description among the writings of the Romans. The Roman Itineraria were only itineraries or first attempts in literary cartography.

The travel literature of antiquity was poor, and even from the early Middle Ages only a few works of this kind are preserved. B. the accounts of the undertakings of the Vikings to the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland and Vinland (now North America) and the expeditions of Ottar and Wulfstan on the orders of King Alfred. On the other hand, the Jewish and Arabic literature of the Middle Ages has a whole series of travel works, such as those of the Arabs Ibn Battūta, Ibn Fadlan, al-Bīrūnī, Ibn Jubair, the Jews Benjamin of Tudela, Meshullam da Volterra and others. They are important sources for the customer of the conditions at that time in these countries.

For the knowledge of East Asia, the travels of Buddhist priests, such as Faxian and especially Xuanzang, are important. Central Asia was more closely known by the 1246 legation delegated by the Pope to Genghis Khan, which was led by John de Plano Carpini. When trade was favored by the Mongols and an orderly overland traffic was established as far as Beijing, the Florentine traveller Francesco Balducci Pegolotti was able to travel over the country in 1376