The Mediterranean Fascination. The first German Mediterranean and Orient Cruise
Die erste deutsche Mittelmeer- und Orientkreuzfahrt
Abstract
On 22 January 1891, Emperor Wilhelm II bade farewell in Cuxhaven to the passenger steamer Augusta Victoria, which was to spend two months exploring the Mediterranean and some of its most important cities, thus ushering in the age of pleasure cruises. On board were 241 wealthy passengers, among them the illustrator Ch. W. Allers, who wrote his travel memoirs in Backschisch. The First German Cruise to the Mediterranean, thus providing a unique testimony of the Mediterranean fascination in the imperialist era. Based on a Eurocentric and national feeling, the Mediterranean is perceived by the microcosm of the German travel society as a geographical and ideological entity. The cultural commonalities thereby determine the experience of foreignness and mix supposedly Mediterranean specificities with ideological projections of tourist advertising and colonial propaganda.
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