Friedrich Parrot’s Mount Ararat Research Expedition
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.
Friedrich Parrot’un Ağrı Dağı Araştırma Keşif Gezisi
15.yüzyılda başlayan gerçek keşif yolculukları 19.yüzyıl emperyalizm çağında yerini “araştırma keşif gezilerine” bırakmıştır. Emperyalist bir bakış açısıyla büyük ölçekli keşif gezileri düzenleyen devletler arasında Rusya da büyük ölçüde yer almıştır. Ruslar, Asya’nın çeşitli bölgelerine düzenledikleri keşif gezilerinin bir benzerini de Ağrı Dağı’na düzenlemişlerdir. Araştırma gezileri sırasında yaptığı “dağlık alan” çalışmalarıyla dikkat çeken Alman doğa bilimci ve gezgin Friedrich Parrot; Rusya’nın Ağrı Dağı’na düzenledikleri bu keşif gezisinin öncülüğünü yapmıştır. 1829’un Mart ayının sonlarında Dorpat’ta keşif yolculuğuna başlayan Parrot, Eylül ayının başlarında Erivan’a varmıştır. Buradan Ağrı Dağı’na geçen Parrot’un, ilk iki zirve tırmanış denemesi başarısızlıkla sonuçlanmış, ancak, Parrot üçüncü denemesinde Ağrı Dağı zirvesine (27 Eylül 1829) tırmanabilmiştir. Parrot, Ağrı Dağı zirvesine tırmandıktan sonra Doğubayazıt’a geçmiş ve Iğdır Ovası çevresinde birçok yeri gezmiştir. Coğrafi gözlemleri ve keşif gezi notlarını 1834 yılında Almanya’da Reise zum Ararat adlı kitapta toplayan Parrot, bu kitapta Ağrı Dağı’nın fiziki coğrafi özelliklerinin (flora, fauna, jeomorfolojik özellikleri vb.) yanı sıra bölgenin kültürel yaşam tarzlarına ve geçim kaynaklarına yönelik canlı ayrıntılara da yer vermiştir. Parrot’un Rus destekli keşif gezisi, özellikle bilim insanların, seyyahlar ve misyonerler arasında ilgi uyandırmıştır. Parrot’tan sonra Ağrı Dağı’na 20.yüzyılın başlarına kadar sayısız ziyaretler gerçekleştirilmiş ve bölgeyi konu alan çok sayıda yayın yapılmıştır.
The purpose of this study is to examine the Russian-supported expedition of Friedrich W. Parrot, a German naturalist and explorer, starting in Dorpat (the present-day city of Tartu, in Estonia) and ending at the peak of Mount Ararat (Ağrı Dağı) in September 1829. The study is based on Parrot’s book, Journey to Ararat (1846), which contained scientific expedition notes and geographical observations regarding Mount Ararat, as well as historical research resources based on the personal observations written by explorers and scientists, who had visited Mount Ararat and its environs, especially during the 19th and 20th centuries. In fact, even though the substantial part of the resources were from the 19th century and the subsequent periods, the travel books of Marco Polo, an Italian who visited China, William of Rubruck, who travelled to Anatolia and surrounding countries in 1252, Ruy Gonzales de Clavijo, a Spanish who was appointed as the ambassador to Timor in 1405, and Joseph Piton de Tournefort, a French botanist, who was sent to Levant by the King of France, were also examined. Similarly, the route map of the Mount Ararat expedition developed for the purposes of the study was based on Parrot’s book, Journey to Ararat (1846). This retraces the expedition which was followed with a “geographical exploration voyage” climbing to the peak of Mount Ararat in September 2018. Born in Germany in 1791 in a period during which the expeditions were highly favoured, Friedrich Wilhelm Parrot attended medicine and natural sciences courses and subsequently worked at Dorpat University (replaced by the University of Tartu thereafter) for an extended period of time. While maintaining his academic activities, he also pioneered Russian expeditions in the country at the beginning of the 19th Century. Having begun his expeditions under the auspices of the Russian Tsar, his most important expedition was that headed to Mount Ararat in 1829. This expedition was one of several Russian expeditions targeting different geographical regions in Asia (e.g., Siberia, North China, Caucasus, etc.) with the aim of perpetuating Russian political and economic power throughout the region. Having started his journey to Mount Ararat from Dorpat in late March 1829, he arrived at Ahuri Village to the north of Mount Ararat in September 1829. He eventually succeeded in reaching the peak of Mount Ararat following two unsuccessful attempts. The most remarkable aspect of Parrot’s scientific works is that he chose “mountains” as the subject of his studies. Having previously conducted significant scientific activities in such important mountainous terrains as the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Caucasus, he was then attracted to Mount Ararat. Parrot relied on his first-hand observations and measurements in the expedition and therefore avoided observations based merely on descriptions. Parrot kept records of the flora, fauna, and geomorphological features of Mount Ararat and achieved an extremely high level of accuracy as regards measuring the height of Mount Ararat and determining its geographical coordinates. His book, Reise zum Ararat (1843), which included his scientific notes on the expedition and geographical observations, was translated from German to English in 1846. In his book, he provided lively accounts detailing the aspects of the cultural life of different ethnic and religious groups inhabiting Mount Ararat and its environs at that time. Parrot performed scientific observations, determined the coordinates of a number of settlements, and visited such settlements as Tuzluca and Doğubeyazıt, during his Russia-supported expedition which covered approximately 5,000 kilometres. Parrot also paid special attention to Ahuri Village, which vanished without a trace after an earthquake in 1840, ensuring that important information about the village has survived until this day thanks to his drawings. Described by Marco Polo as a “mountain that does not allow climbing due to snow on its peaks even during the summer season”, Mount Ararat greatly excited different spheres of interest, (mainly scientists, missionaries, explorers etc.), especially in Europe, after Parrot’s successful attempt at climbing its peak. Therefore, there were a number of subsequent attempts at climbing to the summit after 1829, the majority of which were launched by the Russians. Moreover, the books based on the travel records kept by those who climbed Mount Ararat independently after Friedrich W. Parrot played an important role in the generation of a vast accumulation of information.
