(The following is a post by Khatchig Mouradian, Armenian and Georgian Specialist, Near East Section, African and Middle Eastern Division.) The destruction of the Ottoman Empire’s Armenian population during World War I severed the connection of survivors and their descendants from their ancestral homes in what is today the Republic of Turkey. Scattered around the …
The Library of Congress offers two digital collections for public access: the Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and Tajikistan Elections web archive; and the Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Tajikistan Government web archive. The two archives cover 2005 to 2016 and contain roughly 530 websites from the four countries, many in English and others in Farsi, Dari and Tajiki. The archives also include websites in Urdu, Pashto, Arabic and Russian.
The Middle East and North African Government Institution Web Archive collects websites from Bahrain, Mauritania, Qatar, Turkey and Yemen, representing national financial ministries and banks. The archive is especially valuable as to demonstrate transparency and the conditions in the country/region during a time of global economic change, and, in some cases, while embroiled in conflict. The content preserved is valuable for understanding the application of Islamic banking and finance at the national level.
This blog tells the story of Father Elia Endasian, an engraver, mapmaker, and a keen follower of the scientific advances of his time. The 6 maps (world, continental, and regional) Endasian engraved within 4 years (1784-1787) made an indelible mark on Armenian cartography. The Library of Congress houses these maps and many works by Endasian.
Beginning with Sultan Orhan I (1288-1360) - the second ruler of the Ottoman Empire, as each sultan began his reign he developed his tughra for his official seal. This blog looks at the elements in the tughra and exemplar tughras in the Library of Congress Near East Collections.
This blogpost introduces Ottoman Turkish calligraphic styles. This is the third installment of a three-part series that examines the various styles of Arabic calligraphy used in the Arab and Islamic world. The Arabic, Persian and Ottoman Calligraphy collection is housed in the African and Middle Eastern Division of the Library of Congress.
This blogpost introduces Persian calligraphic styles: Ta'liq, Shikastah, and Nasta'liq. This is the second installment of a three-part series that examines the various styles of Arabic calligraphy used in the Arab and Islamic world. The Arabic, Persian and Ottoman Calligraphy collection is housed in the African and Middle Eastern Division of the Library of Congress.
This blogpost examines the various styles of Arabic calligraphy that are used in Arabic language. The Arabic, Persian and Ottoman Calligraphy collection is housed in the African and Middle Eastern Division of the Library of Congress.
The Library of Congress is home to a collection of rare Persian language manuscripts, among which 10 unique volumes hold the writings and poetry of the master of words, Sa’di of Shiraz, who was a mystical humanist and anecdotal story teller and lived in medieval Persia from the city of Shiraz, but traveled far and wide throughout the Islamic world and wrote about the unity of mankind.