Neither Leisure Class nor Colonialists: Pre-Great War Slovak Travelers in Egypt

Abstract

Prominent narratives of the 19th century dealing with Egypt were mostly written by members of the colonial powers, but individuals of other nations and nationalities also longed to see Egypt without having any ambitions there. This paper focuses on two travelers, Daniel Šustek (a traveling craftsman) and Ján Roháček (an itinerant Pietist preacher), from the northern Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary, which is now known as Slovak Republic, who visited Egypt in 1871 and 1910, respectively. For each of them Egypt was an exotic, difficult-to-reach destination, and this paper examines their views of Egypt.