Foreign Scholars who Contributed to Development of Geography in Turkey: E. Obst, Th. Lefebvre And E. Chaput

Foreign scholars had significant contributions to and influences on development of geography in Turkey, particularly in the late Ottoman period and in the early years of the Republic. German, French, and Scottish scholars, who were invited to our country in a number of ways, participated in studies conducted in geography departments particularly of Istanbul and Ankara Universities. This paper provides a short biography of Erich Obst, Théodore Lefebvre and Ernest Chaput, who served in the Geography Department of Istanbul University, and their organisational, educational, instructional contributions, educational tool and material contributions, as well as explorations and other academic contributions. Their publications relating to Turkey are also covered in the paper. The paper aims to present the contributions made by foreign scholars to development of geography in Turkey with reference to the sources from the period and relevant archived documents, without going into details.