Gertrude bell (1868-1926) was a British archaeologist, traveler and writer, recognized for being the person in charge of drawing the map of Iraq after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1919. She also helped create the National Museum of Iraq, being convinced that the archaeological pieces should be in their places of origin and not be transferred to Europe.
In love with travel, she visited places such as Syria, Jerusalem, Petra, Palmyra, always looking for places to excavate and learn from teachers and researchers such as David Hogarth, from the Brithis Museum..
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Gertrude Bell did not suffer financial problems in her life thanks to the fact that her father, Hugh Bell, was the heir of Sir Isaac Lowlluan Bell, Gertrude's grandfather, one of the most famous magnates in the steel sector.
Lowlluan influenced his granddaughter because he interested her very early in international affairs and politics, he also encouraged her to know the world and travel, one of her passions throughout her life..
Bell was born in 1868 in the English county of Durham, but her mother, Mary Shield, would lose her life after giving birth to her brother Maurice, three years later. The loss of her mother at such a young age forced the little girl Bell to cling tightly to her father.
Her affection for this man who would support her from a young age in all her adventures lasted practically her entire life. Some say that the loss of the mother led to a childhood with certain periods of depression and anguish.
Hugh Bell later married, in 1876, Florence Olliffe, a writer who developed a passion for oriental tales in Gertrude. Olliffe was the author of children's stories, and had a lot of influence on Bell, especially in matters of decorum and the proper exercise of homework..
Likewise, Gertrude saw her stepmother's work with the wives of blacksmiths in Eston, Middlesbroug, and was the seed for her to work in the future helping educate women in Iraq..
As a result of the love between his father and his stepmother, three children were born: Molly, Elsa and Hugo. Those early years Gertrude Bell received instruction at home in addition to spending several days with uncles and cousins..
From a very young age, Gertrude was a very restless child. The talent was obvious to her father, so in adolescence he decided that his daughter should enter the prestigious Queen's College, an institution founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. Such was the great experience of the adolescent Bell that one of her history teachers asked her to enroll at Oxford.
She had been a model student, diligent and with the best grades, so her entry into Oxford would be assured. However, current times were not the best for women.
Despite this, she specialized in Modern History, at a time when it was very strange for a woman to study precisely this branch of the social sciences. What few know perhaps is that he graduated with first-class honors, and that he did so in just two years. The students of that class were 11, nine men and two girls, Gertrude Bell and Alice Greenwood.
When he left Oxford in 1892 he decided to travel to Persia, as he had an uncle in the British embassy in Tehran, Sir Frank Lascelles. Bell met Henry Cadogan there, who was a secretary at the embassy.
Although he was a cultured and intelligent man, he had, according to his father, Hugh Bell, a defect; he was poor, so he did not consent to the marriage. As a result of this first trip, he published, in 1894, Persian Pictures.
Then he decided to return to England and start several trips to dedicate himself to mountaineering and learn languages. It is known that Gertrude spoke up to seven languages, including French, Italian, Arabic, Persian, German and Turkish, many of them learned in her many trips and thanks to direct contact with all kinds of people in different places..
In 1899 he returned to the East and traveled to Jerusalem and Damascus. They also spent several years preparing for a unique adventure crossing the desert, an expedition that Bell herself organized and that led her to immerse herself in a strange and new world for her, meeting the nomadic tribes. In 1906 this trip was reflected in a book, Syria: The Desert and the Sown.
The discovery of the Arab deserts is partly due to Gertrude Bell, who in 1907 traveled to cities such as Jerusalem, Damascus, Beirut, Antioch and Alexandria..
Bell's interest was to leave both a written and graphic testimony, which is why the book Syria: the desert and the sowing counts as a valuable document thanks to its rich descriptions and accompanying images.
Later, in the company of archaeologist Sir William M. Ramsay, they discovered a field of ruins in northern Syria, towards the upper bank of the Euphrates River..
Apart from her passion for archaeological excavations, Gertrude Bell was in love with mountaineering. She enjoyed climbing several European peaks, including one named after her, the Gertrudspitze, which has a height of 2,632, which she herself crossed with two of her guides..
In a span of five years it conquered peaks such as La Meije and Mont Blanc. In one of them, however, she had a stumble, due to the meteorological conditions, with rain and heavy snowfall, which forced her to be with her companions literally suspended from a rock for about two days, adverse circumstances that almost cost them their lives..
Mesopotamia was a territory yet to be conquered. Its cities attracted archaeologists from all over the world, so Gertrude also decided to immerse herself in that world of cities built in raw brick and on cone-shaped mounds..
The fortress Bell found, his main discovery, was Ujaidi's fortress-palace, which had round towers and walls of mortar. He also drew to scale the plans of a great stone castle while it was guarded by several men armed with rifles, since the prevailing atmosphere at that time was one of anxiety..
Before World War I began the world was abuzz with conspiracies, and more the East. It was at Karkemish that Bell had the opportunity to meet T. E. Lawrence, who was just beginning to excavate.
It was at this time that the British government hired Gertrude as an agent to collect information about the Arab world, since she had traveled it and knew its customs and ways of life in the desert.
As the only woman in the British intelligence service, the Arabs nicknamed her the Jatun, for having eyes and ears on constant alert. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the territory of present-day Iraq was divided between France and England..
The task entrusted to him by the government was to draw the new map in order to avoid the maximum possible confrontations between tribes. At the Cairo meeting in 1921, called by Winston Churchill to define the future guidelines of the new state, Gertrude Bell was the only woman among more than forty men..
Bell's great passion was always archeology, that in large part made her go to different places, always in order to make new excavations and accumulate objects that spoke about Mesopotamian culture..
She was one of the most enthusiastic to create the so-called Archaeological Museum of Baghdad, which in time came to be called the National Museum of Iraq. The establishment was opened shortly before Gertrude passed away. The Emir, after his death and in his honor, gave his name to one of the wings of the museum.
Some speculation claimed that Gertrude took her own life by taking several sleeping pills. However, it was also known that before taking the medicine, she asked her maid to wake her up. His death occurred on July 12, 1926.
Films such as Queen of the desert, in 2015, from the well-known German director Werner Herzog. In 2016 there was also a documentary called Letters from Bagdad, based on various writings of the traveler and some of her contemporaries.
Her figure stands out as a pioneer in a world where, at the beginning of the 20th century, men excelled in the trades that she undertook. From studying history to venturing to climb great peaks and being part of an intelligence service have led Gertrude Bell to become an inspiration to many women who came later.
However, it was said that she herself was not a supporter of the female vote, because, she argued, having no education women could not correctly decide their course.
Likewise, certain political decisions over time affected that territory made by his hands where Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds lived together..
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