Hybrid Camels in Western Anatolia. Lecture by Onur İnal - On the Backs of Camels

The Anatolian or so-called Turkmen camel is a cross between a male two-humped Bactrian camel and a female one-humped dromedary (Arabian camel). The hybridized Anatolian camel was a much sought-after farm animal in Ottoman times, as it was stronger than purebred camels and therefore better suited to carrying loads. As early as the seventeenth century, the Anatolian camel was an important player in the development of the harbour city of Izmir and its hinterland. In the eighteenth, and especially in the nineteenth century, the Anatolian nomads systematically and increasingly hybridized Bactrian camels and dromedaries in order to adapt to the demand caused by the growing volume of trade. The Anatolian pack camel was able to maintain its importance even after the development of the railway in the region. This lecture examines the significance of the Anatolian camel as livestock in the context of the social, economic, and ecological transformation of western Anatolia in the late Ottoman and early Republican periods.

Onur İnal is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies at the University of Vienna. In addition to focusing on human-animal relations in the Middle East, he specialises in the environmental and technological history of the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey. He is the author of various articles and book chapters on the topics of environment, technology, tourism and consumer culture in the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey. He is the founder of the academic network Network for the Study of Environmental History of Turkey (NEHT).

Duration: 90 min.

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Meeting point: WMW Forum