Death or taxes

In the 18th century, the fastest passage between Europe and the Indian Ocean was by way of Syria and Iraq. Travellers were faced with the choice between a number of routes across the desert and along the rivers, each with advantages and disadvantages in terms of price, time and security. This article discusses the choices made by a selection of European mid-18th-century travellers utilising perspectives from New institutional economics, arguing that their decisions must be interpreted in light of the their status as outsiders and the socio-economic structure of the societies they moved through.