[The voyage in 1547 to Stamboul (Constantinople) by the pharmacist-naturalist Pierre Belon from Mans].
Pierre Belon was born in Le Mans in 1517. After he had worked as apothecary assistant and he had studied botany, he was chosen to join in the embassy sent by French King François I to the Turkish Sultan in 1546. From 1553 he wrote his impressions upon his tour "Comments upon different peculiarities and memorable things". In Stamboul he dawdled around the typical Turkish drugstores and he observed and recorded the hygienic habit of the Turks. Not only are his "Comments" about the Eastern Countries a mine of useful information but they can be also considered as the foundation of renewal in the relationship between Europeans travellers and the Middle East.
Tricot
Jean-Pierre
JP
D005602:France; D049669:History, 16th Century; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000187:drug effects*; D011642:Publications / Q000266:history*; D014195:Travel / Q000266:history*; D014421:Turkey; D019037:Urban Health Services / Q000266:history*