This article explores the way overland mobility was transformed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, during “the age of speed.” Beyond the already well-known caravan-to-car story, it argues that slow means of transportation such as caravans kept their own rationale and were instrumental in producing an economic geography that proved resilient in the face of the celebrated steam- or fuel-motorized means of accelerated mobility. Adopting the caravan traders and travelers’ vantage and foregrounding their life stories offer new insights on the way rail and automobility were experienced and adopted in the post-Ottoman Middle East. Such experiences cast a different light on the global rechanneling process affecting the circulation of persons and merchandise across the region during the interwar period. Exploring the resilience of caravans in an uneven age of speed does not only illuminate the transnational geographies underpinned by the overlapping networks of both slower and faster mobilities. It also helps to understand the many dimensions of their gradual albeit very uneven demise.

本文探讨了 19 世纪末和 20 世纪初“速度时代”期间陆上交通的转变方式。除了已经众所周知的大篷车到汽车的故事之外，它认为大篷车等缓慢的交通方式保留了自己的基本原理，并且有助于产生一种经济地理，这种经济地理在面对着名的蒸汽或燃料机动化加速流动的手段。采用大篷车商人和旅行者的优势并突出他们的生活故事，为后奥斯曼帝国中东地区体验和采用铁路和汽车的方式提供了新的见解。这些经历对影响两次世界大战期间该地区人员和商品流通的全球重新渠道过程产生了不同的影响。探索大篷车在速度不均的时代的复原力不仅阐明了由较慢和较快的流动性重叠网络所支撑的跨国地理。它还有助于了解他们逐渐消亡的许多方面，尽管非常不平衡。