Orientalists were primarily Western scholars, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries, who studied the languages, cultures, histories, religions, and arts of Asian societies, particularly those in the Middle East, South Asia, and East Asia
. They were often connected to colonial administrations or intellectual circles in Europe and North America and contributed to academic fields such as linguistics, philology, and Asian studies
. Key figures among the Orientalists included Sir William Jones, who founded the Asiatic Society in Calcutta in 1784 and discovered the linguistic relationship between Sanskrit and European languages, which was foundational to modern linguistics
. Other notable Orientalists were Nathaniel Halhed, Charles Wilkins, and Henry T. Colebrooke, who studied Indian languages and culture
. Orientalists often saw themselves as rational and scientific observers of the "Orient," but their work has been critiqued, especially by Edward Said in his 1978 book Orientalism , for portraying Asian societies as exotic, inferior, and fundamentally different from the West, reinforcing imperialist power dynamics
. Said argued that Orientalism was not just an academic pursuit but also a political tool that justified Western domination over Eastern peoples
. In summary, Orientalists were Western scholars and colonial administrators who studied and interpreted Asian cultures and languages, often through a lens shaped by imperialism and Eurocentric assumptions
