Friedrich Parrot’un Ağrı Dağı Araştırma Keşif Gezisi

Abstract

The true expeditions that started during the 15th century were replaced by “research expeditions” in the era of 19th century imperialism. During this time, Russia was one of the countries that launched large scale expeditions with an imperialistic perspective. The Russians led an expedition to Mount Ararat (Ağrı Dağı) similar to their expeditions to various other regions throughout Asia. Chosen thanks to his “mountainous terrain” studies during previous research expeditions, Friedrich Parrot, a German naturalist and explorer, pioneered this Russian expedition to Mount Ararat. Having started his expedition from Dorpat (present day Tartu), in late March of 1829 Parrot arrived in Yerevan in early September and from here, he headed towards Mount Ararat. Parrot’s first two climb attempts ended in failure. However, on his third attempt on September 27th, 1829, he successfully completed the climb. After reaching the summit of Mount Ararat, he went on to Doğubayazıt and visited many locations around Iğdır Plain. Recording his geographical observations and expedition notes in his book, Reise zum Ararat, in Germany in 1834, he provided the physical geographical features of Mount Ararat as well as lively accounts of cultural lifestyles and means of existence in the region. Parrot’s Russian-supported expedition particularly attracted the attention of scientists, explorers, and missionaries. Numerous visits to Mount Ararat followed until the early 20th century and a number of publications regarding the region appeared.