Week 1

For your assignment you should study these images and discuss the changes or continuity in the space(s) depicted. When writing your blog post please incorporate the photograph(s) from 1890s and 1930s, including the one that you took during our field trip.

You should try to incorporate what you find relevant in the assigned readings. Please remember that the majority of your readers have neither been to Yedikule nor have they read the articles we discussed so it is important to provide references.

 

http://icfa.doaks.org/collections/artamonoff/items/show/280

http://icfa.doaks.org/collections/artamonoff/items/show/659

 

Week 2

Locate those sections in the primary sources that can be used to create a historical narrative describing the agricultural past of the walled city. Consider the diet of the monks, the proximity of the agricultural land to the monastery and the topography of both that agricultural land and the region where the monastery is located. Identify people that were mentioned in these documents who were involved in the agricultural production. Evaluate Geoponika’s Book 12 as a source for the agricultural history of the city and incorporate the two Ottoman surveys in your writing. Identify those sections in the 1455 survey that indicate agricultural production in the city: dwellings of bostancis (gardeners), locations of vineyards and gardens, water wells, etc.

Many of these primary sources were not intended to shed light on the agricultural production in the city. Your goal will be to persuade the reader that they are relevant sources for studying the agricultural past of the city. Incorporate the articles we read this week if you think that they could support your arguments. One more time you should have a look at the primary sources that were assigned for this week. You can also use keywords such as garden, gardener, vineyard, Langa, Vlanga, food, vegetables, etc. when searching both pdf and word files. However, this does not mean that you should ignore the rest of the document. You may find even more information about agriculture in the walled city.

Week 3

Go to the GIS Data page on the website and click on the link you will have access to a folder in my Box account. It contains two word documents, one explaining the original assignment and one listing sources of GIS data. There are also two folders, one labeled IstanbulData and one labeled HistoricMaps. For this assignment all you need is the HistoricMaps folder. There you will find folders containing a map from 1918 and aerial photos from 1966 and 1995. Ignore the folder called Ayverdiharita as there was a problem uploading that data. The goal is to georeference all of these images, so divide them up among yourselves. Use the map warper program at Worldmap that Jesse showed you in class to georeference the images. Export the resulting map as a .kmz file and open it in Google Earth. Use the “add polygon” tool to trace the cultivated area in the georeferenced images. You will probably have to put several georeferenced images into google earth at once to get the entire cultivated area. Once you’ve traced got your polygon save it as a .kmz file with the name of the garden (Yedikule or Langa) and the year (1918, 1966 or 1995). Send an email with the polygon and the georeferenced images attached. You can post these to the website as .kmz files and everyone will be able to look at them in Google Earth.

Week 4

750-word essay submitted online, posted to the course website (roughly three double-spaced pages)

Choose one vegetable that currently grows in the Yedikule gardens: purslane (semizotu), lettuce (marul), tomato (domates), purple basil (reyhan), pepper (biber), mint (nane) or radish (turp). Answer the following questions in your essay:

I. 250 words on the origin of your vegetable:

– Location of wild progenitor (ancestor)?

– When was it domesticated? When/how did it come to Istanbul?

– What part is eaten? How is the modern crop different from the wild form?

II. 250 words on how to grow your vegetable:

– Soil, water, sunlight requirements?

– How to plant, how to protect from pests and disease?

– You can use both ancient sources (Geoponika, Classical writers) and modern gardening websites for agricultural information (do these information sources correlate in any way?)

III. 250 words on taste and a traditional recipe:

– Detail your own experiences tasting this vegetable (smell, feel, taste, appearance)

– Are you familiar with this vegetable already, or is it new to you?

– Locate a Turkish recipe that uses this ingredient and explain how the vegetable is prepared/cooked (online recipes are okay, but try to find one from a traditional cookbook or one that is noted as being passed down through generations)

– Include the recipe and a photo of your vegetable