Isabella Bird Bishop (1831–1904) and Her Travels in Persia and Kurdistan in 1890

Abstract

Isabella Bird Bishop was one of the remarkable Victorian women who traveled independently in both Persia and the neighboring countries of the Ottoman Empire. She came to Persia as a very experienced and respected travel writer who had journeyed alone and adventurously in the Americas, Australia, Japan and Malaya. Her travels in Persia in 1890 were possibly the hardest and most challenging of her life. She meticulously observed, recorded and finally published all that she saw—the terrain, meetings with the Qajar court, Bakhtiari and Kurdish tribal chiefs and the families, and the daily life and customs of the people.