In line with recent works and exhibitions on Hajj and its multiple facets, especially the transformation of the pilgrimage at the global scale, the workshop will bring experts working on different periods. We will focus on case studies based on primary sources, whether archival or material, throughout the long history of Hajj. Our aim is to offer a preliminary chronology, which might enlighten the evolution of Hajj on the long run and help to better understand its concrete conditions according to the various historical contexts. A periodization would explain how the fifth pillar of Islam inserted itself to the changing landscape of the Muslim world. Several points need to be discussed or reconsidered. While the holy journey to Mecca involved initially regional devotees, what was the impact of the medieval expansion of Islam on the pilgrims’ cosmopolis? Both the origin and the result of politico-religious stakes, what was the role of Hajj during the rise of the early modern and modern empires? Does the contemporary metamorphosis of the pilgrimage into a mass phenomenon mean a fusion of the Muslim community, or rather its fragmentation?

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