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The perception of the other is often stamped with stereotypes linked to the physical aspect and clothing. The stereotypes linked to the perception of the Other among Eastern people by French travellers have known a deep mutation during the modern period. Between 1545 and 1615, this perception was mainly religious and the physical aspect was generally of minor importance, except with Belon. During the second half of the 17th century Humanism and of Aristotle’s philosophy receded into the background. This changed the nature of these stereotypes that were more and more linked to the body, the dress, clothing and corporal practices. The physical descriptions of Eastern people became more precise and more important, especially with Thevenot. They took more and more the aspect of an ethnological approach when the rationalism of the Enlightenments announced by Tournefort had precedence over exoticism. Abandoning an explanation of the world founded on the divine providence for the benefit of natural causes, some travellers, like de Tott and Volney, invented a perception of the Other founded on the race defined by physical characteristics.