Discovery of exotic

MYSTERY AND EXOTICISM THAT DISTANCE HIDES INSIDE ALWAYS CREATE AN IRRESISTABLE DESIRE IN HUMAN BEINGS TO DISCOVER THAT WHICH IS FAR AWAY. THROUGHOUT HISTORY EXOTICISM, WHICH IS THE SYMBOL OF STRANGENESS, ATTRACTIVENESS AND FOREIGNNESS, SOWED SEEDS OF CURIOSITY IN THE HEARTS OF PEOPLE TRAVELLING FOR DISCOVERY.

Westerners who relate the concept of “other” to mystery and exoticism had the chance to display their development with these voyages. The discovery of exotic countries came to help the West, which always needed to create the “other” in order to define itself. I hear Westerners who encounter the primitive tribes in the lands that they discover saying: “Look at them! They don’t even know how to talk. Let’s take these people to where we live so that they can all see how developed we are!” These people, who had worthy characteristics such as being untouched and free from corruption, were unaware that they had been labelled as exotic. They were carried away to fairs in Europe and America and exhibited there. Millions of curious eyes examined them like they would view various kinds of animals in a zoo. These ‘human fairs’ were established at the beginning of the 19th century and they were more popular than zoos at that time because they gave the opportunity to people to see something wondrous and different. People who encountered these ‘primitives’ for the first time at these fairs were astonished and praised Darwin’s theory of evolution. Every visitor left these fairs a little bit confused, but nevertheless satisfied. Everything was just like they had expected. Western people who fit better to the environmental conditions successfully passed from the filter of natural selection and provided the formation of new generations. They didn’t have any doubt that the West was the symbol of development and the primitive people of exotic countries were the sign of backwardness.
The first exotic
Even though the concept of exoticism that was came into use for the first time at the beginning of the 19th century acquired different meanings with changing social and cultural dynamics, it was generally used to define less developed communities. But after each inch or terrain was discovered and the world turned out to be a small village, it became almost impossible to define and find the distinct and exotic. Differences that were formerly called primitivism came to acquire new meanings with postmodernism. Therefore, the concept of exoticism shed itself of the negative connotations that were associated with it. Baudrillard, who is a prominent French intellectual of this post-modern era, defines exoticism as the sharp and sudden perception of an eternal disagreement, rather than an ordinary foreignness or touristic fantasy. Let’s now take a trip to the exotic lands which are history’s symbol of primitivism and today’s symbol of uniqueness.
Shores of the ocean

An endless clear blue sky, a boundless sea that looks like an enormous aquarium covered with a coral reef, pearl-white sands and huge palm trees… This scene is like seeing a mirage in the desert for most people. But for the jet-set of the world and rich tourists it represents a scene of a play that they themselves are the leading actors and actresses in. They are so pleased to perform this play on the exotic islands that are on the shores of the ocean that they experience this authentic practice every year. The ones who escape from the artificiality of city life and have a holiday in Hawaii, the Caribbean, Maldives, Seychelles or Bahamas feel a freshness that is just like the taste that a natural fruit juice leaves on the lips. Thus, this feeling of freshness accompanies them in their journeys which are the antidotes of modernism. Natural and untouched are widely accepted for these people who try to get away from the speed and intensity of city life. Doesn’t it seem like an ironic search on the part of the people of developed countries who throughout history relate being ‘untouched’ to primitivism? Members of the bourgeois class now willingly go to the lands where people that they formerly defined as primitive are living. But, it is wrong to explain their choices simply as an escape from modernism. Nowadays, the concept of exoticism is associated with uniqueness and naturalness and this is another push factor for them to visit these holiday paradises.
Aloha
Are people living in these exotic countries happy with the transformation of their lands into holiday paradises? Most of us have a picture in our minds of these places in which there are indigenous people that welcome the tourists with their own distinct smile saying: “Aloha!” This scene, which is right out of the movies, makes it difficult for us to believe that in the past people living in exotic lands struggled to protect their lands from Westerners. However, the legend that is told about Tainos natives shows that indigenous people who entertain millions of tourists today were not very hospitable to Westerners in their first visits. It is hard to guess whether or not Tainos natives who were living in Las Galeras - the largest island of Caribbean where Christopher Columbus first stepped onto the “New Continent”- were trying to protect their naturalness while struggling with the invaders coming form the “Old Continent.” But, according to the legend, during the whites’ invasion of the island the sky was covered with pitch black arrows. In order to reflect this struggle one of the beaches of this island was called The Beach of Las Fleshas (The Beach of Arrows).