The Life of Gertrude Bell (History Research Paper)

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October 4, 2020
The Life of Gertrude Bell
Understanding the life of scholarly figures is essential for every student. It allows them to look into the context of their studies, provide a critical analysis thereof, and emulate their thoughts, actions, and even ideologies. In this article, the author would like to discuss Gertrude Bell’s works in line with her life. Bell is considered to be one of the most prominent scholars when it comes to Islamic culture and its relationship to interactions with other cultures in the past. It was because of her works that a vast repository of knowledge was made with regards to the subject matter. Accordingly, the subsequent sections of this paper would discuss her life, works, and ideologies in life from 1868 to 1926. After this, a thorough analysis of how the external and internal circumstances influenced her ideas during her time would follow. All in all, the author believes that by looking at her life, it becomes easier to analyze and appreciate her academic works.[Gertrude Bell. The Letters of Gertrude Bell. Vol. 1. eStar Books, 2014.]
Bell, County Durham, and Archaeology
Gertrude Belle was renowned historian, archeologist, author, letter-writer, traveler, and key authority for the forming and building of Europe-Middle Eastern relations during the first quarter of the 1900s. Her taste and attitude towards travel lent a great deal of credibility and authority to her career and position during the latter part of her life, often drawing from her interactions and impressions with Middle Eastern culture and peoples to arrive at conclusions and observations that tempered an Imperial British outlook with an appreciation and understanding of Middle Eastern tradition and society.[Lisa Cooper. Archaeology and Acrimony: Gertrude Bell, Ernst Herzfeld and the Study of Pre-Modern Mesopotamia. Iraq 75 (2013): 143-169.Paul Collins. Gertrude Bell and Iraq: A life and legacy. British Academy Review 24 (2014): 26.]
Born on July 14 1868 to a family of wealthy entrepreneurs in County Durham of Northeastern England, Gertrude Bell received her early education in London. She entered Lady Margaret Hall of the University of Oxford at the age of 17 and graduated with a degree in Modern History.[Ibid.]
At an early age, she utilized her family’s wealth and England’s imperial status over Mesopotamia granted unto it by the League of Nations after the conclusion of the First World War, to travel extensively all over and throughout Middle Eastern lands. Bell soon after developed an interest for archaeology, studying in detail the Byzantine churches in Central Anatolia, and the ancient city of Ashur on the Tigris River of North Mesopotamia. The intellectual clime of archaeology during that time, however, had already shifted from the study of artefacts and preserved documents and other articles—due to the substantial evidence already excavated relating to this matter, to a study of the race of the peoples who composed of the early Mesopotamian civilization.[Ibid.] [Ibid.] [Ibid.]
Urged on by this search of the “very essence of nations,” Bell grew enchanted and enamored with the prospect of finding something “u...