Introduction

The introduction outlines the central arguments for the work, thesis, and historiography relating to European and the indigenous populations of Southwest Asia, the Arab World. It briefly demarcates issues in historiography and considers the differences in types of primary sources or forms of communication as central to the projection of the image of the Other. It establishes and introduces the subject matter of each chapter and highlights important contributors to the fundamental understanding of cultural interactions across the Mediterranean complex, specifically the missionary attempts as analyzed and narrated by Bernard Heyberger, Robert John Clines, and Emanuele Colombo.