Johann Ludwig Burckhardt

Johann Ludwig (a.k.a. John Lewis) Burckhardt (November 24, 1784 - October 15, 1817), Swiss traveller and orientalist, was born in Lausanne. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... is the 328th day of the year (329th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1784 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... is the 288th day of the year (289th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1817 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Lausanne (pronounced ) is a city in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, situated on the shores of Lake Geneva (French: Lac Léman), and facing Évian-les-Bains (France) and with the Jura mountains to its north. ...

After studying in Leipzig and at the University of Göttingen he visited England in the summer of 1806, carrying a letter of introduction from the naturalist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach to Sir Joseph Banks, who, with the other members of the African Association, accepted his offer in 1809 to launch an expedition to discover the source of the River Niger. Upon acceptance Burckhardt planned to travel to the Levant in order to study Arabic, in the belief that his journey to Africa would be facilitated if he was accepted to be as a Muslim. Leipzig ( ; Sorbian/Lusatian: Lipsk from the Sorbian word for Tilia) is, with a population of over 506,000, the largest city in the federal state of Saxony, Germany. ... The Georg-August University of Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, often called the Georgia Augusta) was founded in 1734 by George II, King of Great Britain and Elector of Hanover, and opened in 1737. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem - the United Kingdom anthem God Save the Queen is commonly used England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto)1 Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Monarch Queen Elizabeth II... 1806 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Johann Friedrich Blumenbach Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (May 11, 1752 - January 22, 1840) was a German physiologist and anthropologist. ... Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, PRS (13 February 1743 – 19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist and science patron. ... The source of the Niger River and the location of Timbuktu werent known to Europeans. ... Arabic can mean: From or related to Arabia From or related to the Arabs The Arabic language; see also Arabic grammar The Arabic alphabet, used for expressing the languages of Arabic, Persian, Malay ( Jawi), Kurdish, Panjabi, Pashto, Sindhi and Urdu, among others. ... There is also a collection of Hadith called Sahih Muslim A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Persian: Mosalman or Mosalmon Urdu: مسلمان, Turkish: Müslüman, Albanian: Mysliman, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of the religion of Islam. ...

As preparation Burckhardt briefly studied Arabic at the University of Cambridge and prepared for his rigorous career as an explorer by wandering bareheaded in the English countryside during a heatwave, subsisting on vegetables and water, and sleeping on the bare ground. The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world and has a reputation as one of the worlds most prestigious universities. ...

Burckhardt left England in March 1809 for Malta, whence he proceeded, in the following autumn, to Aleppo, Syria in order to perfect his Arabic and study Islamic Law. Year 1809 (MDCCCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar). ... Aleppo (or Halab Arabic: , ) is a city in northern Syria, capital of the Aleppo Governorate. ... Sharia (Arabic شريعة also Sharia, Shariah or Syariah) is traditional Islamic law. ...

In order to obtain a better knowledge of oriental life he disguised himself as a Muslim, and took the name of Sheikh Ibrahim Ibn Abdallah. There is some indication that his conversion to Islam may have been sincere, although his family denies this. There is also a collection of Hadith called Sahih Muslim A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Persian: Mosalman or Mosalmon Urdu: مسلمان, Turkish: Müslüman, Albanian: Mysliman, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of the religion of Islam. ... For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ...

After two years passed in the Levant he had thoroughly mastered Arabic, and had acquired such accurate knowledge of the Qur'an, and of the commentaries upon its religion and laws, that after a critical examination the most learned Muslims entertained no doubt of his being really what he professed to be, a learned doctor of their law. The Levant The Levant (IPA: /ləvænt/) is an imprecise geographical term historically referring to a large area in the Middle East south of the Taurus Mountains, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and by the northern Arabian Desert and Upper Mesopotamia to the east. ... The Qur’ān [1] (Arabic: ;, literally the recitation; also sometimes transliterated as Quran, Koran, or Alcoran) is the central religious text of Islam. ...

During his residence in Syria he visited Palmyra, Damascus, Lebanon and made a series of other exploratory trips in the region. One of these trips, in what is now modern-day Jordan, resulted in his 'discovery' of the extensive and unique ruins of Petra which had been undiscovered for nearly a millenia. Unsatisfied with the magnitude of this discovery he was determined to carry on with his original aim to uncover the source of the River Niger. Thus he to went to Cairo with the intention of joining a caravan to Fezzan, in Libya. In 1812, whilst waiting for the departure of the caravan which had been delayed, he travelled up the Nile as far as Dar Mahass; and then, finding it impossible to penetrate westward, he made a journey through the Nubian desert in the character of a poor Syrian merchant, passing by Berber and Shendi to Suakin, on the Red Sea, whence he performed the pilgrimage to Mecca by way of Jidda. At Mecca he stayed three months and afterwards visited Medina. A general view of the site Palmyra was in the ancient times an important city of central Syria, located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus and 120 km southwest of the Euphrates. ... Nickname: The Seal of the Damascus Governorate Syria Syria Governorates Damascus Governorate Government  - Governor Bishr Al Sabban Area  - City 573 km²  (221. ... Petra (from petra, rock in Greek; Arabic: البتراء, Al-Butrā) is an archaeological site in Jordan, lying in a basin among the mountains which form the eastern flank of Arabah (Wadi Araba), the large valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. ... Nickname: Egypt: Site of Cairo (top center) Coordinates: , Government  - Governor Dr. Abdul Azim Wazir Area  - City 214 km²  (82. ... Fezzan is a desert region in south-western Libya. ... For the overture by Tchaikovsky, see 1812 Overture; For the wars, see War of 1812 (USA - United Kingdom) or Patriotic War of 1812 (France - Russia) For the Siberia Airlines plane crashed over the Black Sea on October 4, 2001, see Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 1812 was a leap year starting... The Nile (Arabic: , transliteration: , Ancient Egyptian iteru, Coptic piaro or phiaro) is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. ... Berber is a town in the Nile state of northern Sudan, 50 km north of Atbara, near the junction of the Atbara River and the Nile. ... Shandi or Shendi (Arabic: شندي) is a town in Sudan, situated on the Nile 150 km northeast of Khartoum, at 16° 49 29 N and 33° 26 3 E. Shandi is the center of the Jaaliin tribe and an important historic trading center. ... Suakin is a port in north eastern Sudan, on the Red Sea. ... Location of the Red Sea The Red Sea is an inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. ... The Hajj or Haj is the Pilgrimage to Mecca (or, Makkah) and is the fifth of the Five Pillars of Islam. Every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so is obliged to make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime. ... Jeddah (also Jedda, Jiddah, or Juddah) is a city in in western Saudi Arabia, on the Red Sea. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

After enduring privations and sufferings of the severest kind, he returned to Cairo in June 1815 in a state of great exhaustion; but in the spring of 1816 he travelled to Mount Sinai, whence he returned to Cairo in June, and there again made preparations for his intended journey to Fezzan. Several hindrances prevented his prosecuting this intention, and finally, in April 1817, when the long-expected caravan prepared to depart, he was seized by dysentery[1] and died on the 15th of October. He had from time to time carefully transmitted to England his journals and notes, and a very copious series of letters, so very few details of his journeys have been lost. He bequeathed his collection of 800 vols. of oriental manuscripts to the library of Cambridge University. View from the summit of Mount Sinai Sinai Peninsula, showing location of Jabal Musa Mount Sinai (Arabic: طور سيناء), also known as Mount Horeb, Mount Musa, Gebel Musa or Jabal Musa (Moses Mountain) by the Bedouins, is the name of a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula. ... Dysentery (formerly known as flux or the bloody flux) is the term for tenesmus (painful straining to pass stool), cramping, and frequent, small-volume severe diarrhea associated with blood in the feces. ...

His works were published by the African Association in the following order:

1. Travels in Nubia (to which is prefixed a biographical memoir) (1819)
2. Travels in Syria and the Holy Land (1822)
3. Travels in Arabia (1829)
4. Arabic Proverbs, or the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians (1830)
5. Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys (1831).

A Bedouin man on a hillside at Mount Sinai Bedouin, derived from the Arabic ( ), a generic name for a desert-dweller, is a term generally applied to Arab nomadic pastoralist groups, who are found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via the... Wahhabism (Arabic: Al-Wahhābīyya الوهابية, Wahabism) is a branch of Islam practiced by those who follow the teachings of Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab, after whom the movement is named. ...

References

Wikisource has an original article from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica about:

Burckhardt, John Lewis

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. The article is available here.

[2] Image File history File links Wikisource-logo. ... The original Wikisource logo. ... Encyclopædia Britannica, the eleventh edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... Encyclopædia Britannica, the eleventh edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

External links

• Works by Johann Ludwig Burckhardt at Project Gutenberg