The Story...

On the 13th of April, 1897, a 19 year-old European resident of Baghdad, named Alexander Richard Svoboda, set out on a long journey to Europe by mule litter, boat and train. From a large and influential family of merchants, artists, and explorers settled in Ottoman Iraq since the end of the 18th century, Alexander traveled in the company of a departing British diplomat and a younger relative following a circuitous route through the Middle East to Cairo and thence Europe on a three and a half month journey which he described day-by-day in a journal written in the Iraqi Arabic of his time. The Ottoman Texts Archive Project (OTAP) at the University of Washington is assisting Iraqi researcher, Ms. Nowf Allawi, in preparing this text, with an Arabic transcription and English translation in digital format, for eventual print and electronic publication. As part of the project, OTAP researchers are exploring web-based technologies that will support and enhance the publication of the diary. One example of this effort is this site which demonstrates the work of OTAP associate Jeremy Caci in employing available web resources to construct a virtual map of Alexander's journey.

Svoboda's Itinerary

These HTML pages are abstracted from Alexander Svoboda's diary.

• Simple Itinerary - April, May, June, July (1897)
• Alternate Location Names and GPS Coordinates

Maps

Resized .jpg versions of maps are taken from the Library of Congress' Map Collection.
Their respective call numbers are in brackets.

• Egypt Nile River Valley (1897) [LOC G8301.E635 1897 .J6]
• Europe (1897) [LOC G5700 1897 .S6 TIL]
• Middle East (1882) [LOC G7421.E635 1882 .P6]
• Middle East and South Asia (1912) [LOC G7420 1912 .E3]

Other Resources

These files are meant to be opened and viewed with Google Earth.
The standard version of Google Earth is freeware and can be found here.
To obtain a copy of the .kml version, right click Google Earth Locations (.kml) and click Save Link As...

• Google Earth Locations (.kmz)
• Google Earth Locations (.kml)

The Virtual Map

This is the Javascript version of the Google Map API, centered on Baghdad and requires no additional software to view.

• The Framework
• Alexander Svoboda's Journey

This is a Keyboard Accessible version of the Google Map API. The controls are as follows:

• + = Zoom In
• - = Zoom Out
• Arrow Keys = Pan
• Page Up = Fast Pan Up
• Page Down = Fast Pan Down
• Home = Fast Pan Left
• End = Fast Pan Right

Note: Changing the Map Type is not yet accessible via keyboard, but it will be soon!

• Alexander Svoboda's Journey (Keyboard Accessible)

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