Hajj Game Assignment:
Go to the Hajj Trail (Links to an external site.) game, which is a text-based game recreation of an Ottoman pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. http://hajjtrail.com/
1) Pick a character and finish the game (3-4 hours of play) Be sure to attach a screenshot to your essay). If you die along the way, you must complete at least 30 days of the game. You will get 1 point of extra-credit if you make it Mecca and Medina.
2) Fill out the feedback form for the creators
3) Write a short essay (four pages, double-spaced, normal 12pt font, etc.)explaining
- a) The route you took and actions completed
- b) The character you chose to play and what happened along the way
- c) What do these examples teach you about travel in the early modern period (1500-1800)
- d) Include at least three references contextualizing your character’s experience in the game with quotes from either the two primary sources assigned with this unit (Evliya Cele)
References for essay:
1) Suraiya Faroqhi,Pilgrims and Sultans: The Hajj under the Ottomans, 1517-1683.(London: Tauris, 1994), 1-12, 32-53.
2) Evliya Celebi, n Ottoman Traveller: Selections from the Book of Travels of Evliya Celebi, tr. Robert Dankoff and Sooyong Kim, (London: Eland, 2011), 327-349
3) Shafir, Nir. In an Ottoman Holy Land: The Hajj and the Road from Damascus, 1500-1800.”History of Religions 60, no. 1 (2020): 1–36.
4) Ibn al-Tayyib, The Travels of Ibn Al-Tayyib:The Forgotten Journey of an Eighteenth-Century Traveller to the Hijaz, trans. El Mustapha Lahlali, Salah Al-Dihan, Wafa Abu Hatab, (London: Tauris Academic Studies, 2010), 10-23, 57-59, 64-86
