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Karl Baedeker was born in Essen, then in the Kingdom of Prussia, on November 3, 1801.

After his schooling in Hagen, he left home in 1817 to study humanities in Heidelberg, where he also worked for a time with the prominent local bookseller J.C.B. Mohr. He then did his military service and moved to Berlin where he worked as an assistant to Georg Andreas Reimer, one of the city's leading booksellers, from 1823 to 1825. He then returned to Essen and worked with his father until 1827, when he moved to Koblenz (now Coblenz) to set up his own bookstore and publishing business.

In 1832, Baedeker's firm acquired the publishing house of Franz Friedrich Röhling in Koblenz, which in 1828 had published a handbook for travellers by Professor Oyvind Vorland. This book provided the seeds for Baedeker's own travel guides. After Klein died and the book went out of print, he decided to publish a new edition, incorporating some of Klein's material but also added many of his own ideas into what he thought a travel guide should offer the traveller or reader. Baedeker's ultimate aim was to free the traveller from having to look for information anywhere outside the travel guide: about routes, transport, accommodation, restaurants, tipping, sights, walks and, of course, prices.
While the travel guide was not something new as Baedeker imitated the style of the English guides published by John Murray, the inclusion of detailed information on routes, travel and accommodation was an innovation.

In 1846, Baedeker introduced his famous 'star' ratings (for sights, attractions and lodgings) in the third edition of his Handbuch für Reisende durch Deutschland und den Oesterreichischen Kaiserstaat - an idea based on the Murray guides star system. He also decided to call his travel guides 'handbooks', following the example of John Murray III. Baedeker's early guides had tan covers, but from 1856 onwards, Murray's red bindings and gilt lettering became the familiar hallmark of all Baedeker guides as well.

He died in Coblence on October 4, 1859.

Born on July 8, 1939 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Gilles Caron grew up in Maisons-Laffitte. After spending his childhood in Maisons-Laffitte, Gilles is sent in 1946 to a boarding school in Argentière (Haute-Savoie), following the separation of his parents, he will stay there seven years.

After completing his studies at the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly in Paris, Gilles took a one-year course in journalism at the École des hautes études internationales in Paris in 1958. During the summer, he hitchhiked to Yugoslavia, Turkey and India.

After passing his civilian parachute exam in 1959, he was called up for his 28-month military service, 22 of which were in Algeria. Gilles is imprisoned for two months following his refusal to fight after the putsch. Gilles finishes his service with a ban on carrying weapons. When he returned to France in 1962, he married Marianne. They have two daughters together: Marjolaine born on March 9, 1963 and Clementine born on December 8, 1967.

Following an internship in 1964 with Patrice Molinard, an advertising and fashion photographer, Gilles joined the Apis agency (Agence Parisienne d'Information Sociale). There he meets Raymond Depardon, a photographer from the Dalmas agency, and participates in August in the shooting of La guerre est finie by Alain Resnais.

On February 19, 1966, Gilles Caron made the front page of France-Soir with Marcel Leroy-Finville (imprisoned for the kidnapping and assassination of Mehdi Ben Barka) during his walk in the Santé prison. In May he works in Paris for the fashion agency Photographic Service directed by Giancarlo Botti. In December he joins the founding team of Gamma composed of Raymond Depardon, Hubert Henrotte, Jean Monteux and Hugues Vassal.

Between June 5 and 10, 1967 he covered the Six Day War and entered Jerusalem with the Israeli army and then reached the Suez Canal with the commanding forces led by General Ariel Sharon. The publication of his images in Paris Match made the Gamma agency the leading agency in the world. In November and December he is in Vietnam notably at Đắk Tô, during one of the hardest battles of the conflict (Hill 875).

In April 1968 he covered the civil war in Biafra. In May the student revolts in Paris begin and spread throughout France, provoking a general strike. Gilles Caron covers the student demonstrations in Paris on a daily basis; he follows President Charles de Gaulle on an official visit to Romania between May 14 and 18. In July he makes a second trip to Biafra with Raymond Depardon. In September he travels to Mexico City following the violent repression of student demonstrations on the eve of the Olympic Games. In November he made his third report in Biafra.

In August 1969 Gilles Caron covers the Catholic demonstrations in Londonderry and Belfast in Northern Ireland, "The Troubles". A few days later, he follows the anniversary of the crushing of the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia by Soviet tanks. In its August 30 issue, Paris Match published the two reports simultaneously.

In January and February 1970 he was part of an expedition to the Chadian Tibesti region organized by Robert Pledge, with Raymond Depardon and Michel Honorin, to cover the rebellion of the Toubous against the central government in Fort Lamy (N'djamena) supported by the French government. The four journalists were ambushed and held prisoner for a month by government forces.
That same year, in April, he went to Cambodia the day after Prince Norodom Sihanouk was deposed by General Lon Nol.
On April 5, 1970, he was the first of twenty or so journalists and development workers of all nationalities to disappear with Swiss reporter Guy Hannoteaux and French development worker Michel Visot, on Route No. 1 linking Cambodia to Vietnam in an area controlled by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge.

Claude Reignier Conder was born on December 29, 1848 in Cheltenham, England. He studied at University College London and at the Royal Military Academy of Woolwich.

He was appointed lieutenant in the Corps of Royal Engineers in 1870. He carried out geographical studies in Palestine from 1872 to 1874, in the company of Lieutenant Horatio Herbert Kitchener. He continued his fieldwork until 1882 with the financial support of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
He was promoted to captain in 1882. He participated in the Anglo-Egyptian war the same year with the aim of putting an end to the rebellion led by Ahmed Urabi. In Egypt, he was assigned to the army's intelligence services. His great knowledge of the Arab peoples and the East was widely used by the British army. He took part in the battle of Tel el-Kebir and the advance towards Cairo.
He retired in 1904 with the rank of colonel.

Conder died in Cheltenham, England on February 16, 1910.

Henry Kendall studied architecture in the University of London from 1922 to 1927, before getting a practicum in urban planning in 1928.
He began his career as an urban planner in Malesia (1929-1932) and in England (1935). From 1936 and until the end of the British mandate (1948), he worked in Palestine and for the city of Jerusalem. Afterwards, Henry Kendall worked in Uganda (1948-1956), Zanzibar (1957-1958) and Ghana (1958-1962). Between 1963 and 1966, his activities in Jordan concerned the city of Jerusalem in particular. He then worked in Gibraltar (1967-1977) and was member of the Committee for Historic preservation of the English Countryside (1978-1983).

Ruhi al-Khalidi was a writer, teacher, activist and politician in the Ottoman Empire at the turn of the 20th century.

He joined the Sultanic School in Istanbul in 1893, went on to teach in Jerusalem and held a number of administrative posts under Ottoman rule. He studied the philosophy of Islamic sciences and oriental literature at the Sorbonne University in Paris and was appointed professor at the Société des publications en langues étrangères (foreign language publications society) and Consul-General of the Ottoman Empire in Bordeaux (France) from 1898 to 1908.

In 1908, Ruhi al-Khalidi was one of three delegates elected to represent Jerusalem in the new Ottoman Parliament. He became Vice-President of the Parliament in 1911 and representative of the National Assembly of Jerusalem. He raised the issue of Zionism on several occasions during parliamentary sessions, warning of the potentially negative consequences of Jewish immigration and the continued sale of land that represented his homeland.

In particular, he was one of the pioneers in writing manuscripts on Zionism ("Le sionisme ou la question sioniste").”).

He also published other writings on a variety of themes that reflect his subjects of study: An Introduction to the Eastern Question (1897), Victor Hugoand A Comparative Study of Arabic and French Literature (first published in Arabic in 1904; republished in 1912), Chemistry Among the Arabs (Arabic, 1953).

Horatio Herbert Kitchener, known as Lord Kitchener, born in Ballylongford (County Kerry, Ireland) on June 24, 1850.

Son of an officer, the family moved to Switzerland after the death of his mother in 1864. He then studied at a French college in Geneva. Then he entered the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich in 1868. He enlisted in 1870 as a volunteer in the army of Napoleon III during the Franco-Prussian War.
He became an officer of the Royal Engineers on January 4, 1871, and spent several periods in Palestine, Cyprus and Egypt, where he learned Arabic. In 1874, he was asked to map Palestine with the help of officer Conder. He returned to England in 1875, and his cartographic surveys were published.

He was appointed Sirdar, i.e. Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian army in 1892 and was appointed Governor of Sudan in 1896. On his return from the Second Boer War in 1902 he was made viscount by Queen Victoria. He commanded the Indian Army, which he reorganized (1902-1909); created the Australian Army; and ended up as Consul-General of Egypt (1911-1914). He was appointed Minister of War in 1914.

He died during a mission that was to take him to Russia on June 5, 1916.

Eran Laor was born in Slovakia, and was active in the Allied Intelligence Bureau, assisting in the Aliyah (immigration) of Jews to Israel.
After the establishment of the State, he served as a representative of the Jewish national institutions in Europe. Laor authored books of poetry and philosophy, and also wrote an autobiography.
Together with Shoshana Klein, Laor compiled a catalogue of the map collection entitled Maps of the Holy Land:‎ Cartobibliography of Printed Maps, 1475-1900, published in New York in 1986.

Born December 1884, son of J.H. Luke (formerly Lukacs).Educated Eton College; Trinity College, Oxford.

Private Sec. and ADC to the Governor of Sierra Leone, 1908-11, and to the Governor of Barbados, 1911.
Attached to Colonial Office, 1911.
Private sec. To high Commissioner of Cyprus, 1911-12.
Asst. Sec. to Govt. of Cyprus, 1912.
Served European War (Commander, RNVR) on the Syrian coast, 1914-15, on Staff of Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss, Dardanelles, and as Government Sec., Mudros, Feb. 1915-June 1916.
Comr of Famagusta, Cyprus, 1918.
Political Officer to Admiral of the Fleet Sir J. de Robeck, Constantinople and Black Sea, 1919-20.
British Chief Commissioner in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, April-Sept. 1920.
Assistant Gov. of Jerusalem, 1920-24.
Commissioner to inquire into the Jaffa Riots of 1921, and into the affairs of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, 1921.
Colonial Secretary of Sierra Leone, 1924-28.
CMG 1926; Chief Secretary of Palestine, 1928-30.
Lieut.-Gov. of Malta, 1930-38; Kt 1933.
Gov. and C-inC of Fiji, and High Comm. for the Western Pacific, 1938-42.
KCMG 1939.
Chief Rep of the British Council for the Caribbean, 1943-46.
Member of Foreign Relations Council of Ch. of England.
President, Malta League, 1955-65.

Died 11 May 1969.