The Orient (ﺫﻱ ﺍﻭﺭﻳﻪﻧﺖ)

The first page of The Orient, volume 1, issue 1, 20 April 1910.In March 1910, American Board missionaries in Turkey launched an English-language weekly newspaper, which was produced and printed at the ABCFM’s headquarters in Istanbul, the Bible House. The paper’s first five issues appeared under the title Bosphorus News and were published for private circulation only. On 20 April, the periodical was issued with a new name, The Orient, and distributed publicly. Its aim was “to report to the English-speaking friends of Turkey news from all parts of the empire, to interpret the significance of this news, and to record events of particular interest in the life of the institutions which the American Board has founded in that empire” (Missionary Herald, vol. 107, 1911, p. 6).

Six volumes of The Orient were issued without interruption until 29 December 1915, when the paper was discontinued. After World War One, it resumed publication with volume 7, in 1919. A little over three years later, in January 1923, the newspaper was suspended again, with volume 9, this time permanently. (In its last year of publication, the paper appeared monthly rather than weekly).

One of the few English-language periodicals published locally in the early nineteenth century, The Orient is a vital primary source for the history of Turkey and the surrounding region during this decisive era, which witnessed the end of the Ottoman Empire, the First World War, and the establishment of the Turkish Republic. With its focus on current events, the paper offers a unique record, as well as a distinctive American perspective, of early twentieth-century Turkish and Middle Eastern politics, economy, and society.

ARIT is digitizing this important historical American periodical and making it available internationally on the worldwide web with funding and support from the United States Department of State.

Links

The Orient, Volume I, No. 1-52
The Orient, Volume II, No. 1-37
The Orient, Volume III, No. 1-52
The Orient, Volume IV, No. 1-53
The Orient, Volume V, No. 1-52
The Orient, Volume VI, No. 1-52
The Orient, Volume VII, No. 14-18, 20-21, 24-25, 29-33, 42-45, 47-51
The Orient, Volume VIII, No. 5-12, 15-23, 25-26, 28-46, 48-52
The Orient, Volume IX, No. 1-12 and addendum