I’ll tell you about Gertrude Bell, the queen of the desert. writes Vecchiarino

The Arabs called itAl-Khatun”, Queen of the desert because she dared to cross without armed escort the deserts of Palestine, Syria, Iran, Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula (the deserts of the Near Middle East). An eclectic woman with a thousand faces Gertrude Bell she was an archaeologist, mountaineer, linguist, writer, photographer, cartographer, and political officer for the Arab Bureau, an office set up in Egypt by the United Kingdom’s intelligence service in 1916 to manage Middle Eastern affairs. All the qualities that have made her one of the most influential figures in the Middle East.

ORIGINS

Born in 1868 to a wealthy English industrial family at Washington Hall, in County Durham, Gertrude had an innate curiosity from an early age. Her education included studying subjects such as piano and embroidery, which was the complete opposite for a free spirit like her, drawn to adventure and the world. For this reason, at the age of 16, he entered Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where he graduated summa cum laude in Modern History in just two years.

FIRST TRIP TO PERSIA

In 1892, Gertrude’s father agreed to her travel to Persia, where her uncle, Sir Frank Lacelles, was ambassador. In Tehran, the girl was struck by the view of the desert, which she enthusiastically described in the book “Persian Pictures”: “The first sunrise after a night in the desert is an unforgettable memory: it’s like opening your eyes in disgrace.” and seeing this, I can even die in peace. A love that will stay with her for the rest of her life.

WORLDWIDE

Eager to discover the world, she spent the next decade traveling all over the world: she visited Mexico, the United States, Japan, China, Italy and Greece, which sparked her passion for archeology and languages: she was actually fluent in Arabic, French, German , Italian, Persian and Turkish; languages ​​that will help you in your career.

GETRUDSPITZE

In a period when mountaineering was almost exclusively a male prerogative, Gertrude Bell, an adventurous woman with an indomitable character, climbed numerous mountains between 1899 and 1904, including La Meillet and Mont Blanc. At the end of the summer of 1901, he hired two mountain guides from Innertkirchen, the brothers Ulrich and Heinrich Führer, to the Haslital. In a few days he managed to make the first eight ascents with two guides. As usual, the first climber had the honor of giving his name to the peak. Thus, Gertrude Bell in the Engelhörner, a mountain range about four kilometers long with numerous peaks at the northern tip of the Bernese Alps, immortalized her name on September 3, 1901 on a peak with a height of 2633 meters, which has since been called the Gertrudspitze. . Bell was considered one of the best and most daring climbers in the world.

IN THE MIDDLE EAST

But his great love was the Middle East, and in 1899 Bell returned to Palestine and Syria, and in 1900 moved to Jerusalem; here he also adopted typical Bedouin clothing, thanks to which he was able to travel all over the country far and wide. He got acquainted with the Arab tribes, learned their customs, names, got acquainted with their leaders. He took lessons in cartography, studied Hebrew and perfected his Arabic. He spent his nights talking by the fire with the Bedouins of the desert. Everything he saw he collected in the book “Syria: The Desert and the Sown”, published in 1907, in which he told about his journey to Greater Syria, a historical region that should not be confused with modern Syria, where he described Damascus, Jerusalem . , Beirut, Antioch and Alexandretta; he also added some photographs he had taken, which made the beauty of these places visible in the West.

QUEEN OF THE DESERT

He traveled the Middle East on camels and horses as a man, wearing a blue keffiyeh over his red hair to protect himself from the sun and sand. The Bedouins admired her: appreciating her courage and pride, they began to call her El KhatunThe queen, also because she was accompanied by a large number of servants and a huge and incredible luggage, including, among other things, a tent equipped with a travel bed and even a bath, the only luxury she allowed herself in the desert. In March 1907 he visited Ottoman Turkey and began collaborating with archaeologist Sir William M. Ramsay; their archaeological excavations of buildings and churches of the Byzantine era in Binbirkilis, in the heart of Anatolia, are described in the work “A Thousand and One Churches”.

MEETING WITH LAWRENCE OF ARABIA

In January 1909, Bell left for Mesopotamia, where he visited the Hittite city of Karchemish, located on the western bank of the Euphrates River, sketched its territory and described the ruins of the pre-Islamic Lakhmid settlement of Ukhaidir; he also visited Babylon and Najaf. Later in Carchemish he met two archaeologists working in the area, one of whom was Thomas Edward Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia; a very close epistolary relationship developed with the latter, as both studied modern history at Oxford. Bell was then the second Western woman to visit the city of Ha’il (the first was Lady Anne Blunt): in 1913, she traveled some 1,800 miles from Damascus to the unstable province of Ha’il, located in the center of Saudi Arabia, during a stronghold of Ibn Saud’s British-backed rivals and therefore opposed to the United Kingdom.

WORLD WAR I

With the outbreak of the First World War, all the experience and knowledge of Gertrude Bell did not escape the British government. In 1916, she was assigned to the Arab Bureau, a unit set up by Her Majesty’s Intelligence to coordinate Britain’s actions during the Great War to destabilize the Ottoman Empire, which had become an ally of the German Empire. Thus, Gertrude Bell was the first woman in British military intelligence to receive the rank of officer due to her knowledge, experience as a cartographer and excellent command of Arabic, Farsi and Turkish. In the Arab Bureau, which was headed by General Gilbert ClaytonBell found Lawrence of Arabia and it was to him that he was told the whereabouts and location of the Arab tribes; information that proved fundamental to the start of the Arab Revolt and the independence of countries such as Transjordan and Iraq.

VILLAGE OF MESOPOTAMIA

Her knowledge, associated with a brilliant intellect, was noticed by General Clayton, who in March 1916 sent her to Basra, taken from the Ottomans by the British in 1914 at the beginning of the Mesopotamian campaign. Here Gertrude was to give advice to a political official. Percy Cox on the move, as Bell had visited the area and was very familiar with it. With this knowledge, he was able to draw up topographic maps that helped British troops reach Baghdad by safe routes. She also became a field advisor Harry St. John Philbyfamous eccentric English Arabist, father of the future spy Kim Philby.

SECRETARY OF THE EAST

When British troops captured Baghdad in March 1917, Gertrude was appointed Secretary of the East and also made an MBE. Later she called Winston Churchill, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, at the Cairo Conference of 1921, together with Cox and Lawrence, decide the fate of the territories that belonged to the Ottoman Empire after the First World War; she was the only woman to take part. During the conference, he worked to promote the creation of countries such as Transjordan and Iraq, which were entrusted to Abdallah and Faisal, sons of al-Hussein ibn Ali, the Sherif of Mecca who led the Arab revolt against the Ottomans. .

MOTHER OF IRAQ

He detailed the borders of the newborn state of Iraq by combining vilayetOttoman provinces of Basra, Mosul and Baghdad; he wrote a constitution providing for an English-style model with a parliament, civil institutions, and a judiciary. She was recognized as the “English mother” of Iraq and enjoyed the full confidence of King Faisal, which helped her to be well received by the leaders of the Iraqi tribes at the beginning of her reign.

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF IRAQ

But the role of Gertrude Bell was not only political. He founded the Baghdad Archaeological Museum with the intention of preserving evidence of the cultures he admired during his travels, thereby preserving Iraqi culture and history, including important relics from the Mesopotamian civilizations.

DEATH

Experienced by a long malarial fever and hard work of writing reports, essays, articles and publications, Gertrude became increasingly emaciated and suffering. He died on July 12, 1926 in his Baghdad due to an overdose of sleeping pills at the age of only 58 after a fearless and reckless life. The Iraqi government gave her a state funeral, and the family received letters of condolence from senior Arab officials and even from the English king. His body was buried in the English Cemetery in Baghdad.

ARCHIVE

The role he played in these events, as well as his travel experiences in Europe, East Asia and the Middle East in the early 20th century, are collected in his extensive archive at Newcastle University, which contains his photographs, letters and diaries. In 2017, the archive was inscribed on the UNESCO International Memory of the World register in recognition of its historical significance.

MOVIE

The film was shot in 2015 based on the extraordinary story of Gertrude Bell. desert queenWritten and directed by Werner Herzog and played by Nicole Kidman.