Danish Arabia expedition (1761–1767)

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Danish Arabia expedition
Native name Den Arabiske Rejse
DateJanuary 4, 1761 – November 20, 1767 (1761-01-04 1767-11-20)
Duration6 years, 320 days
Location Middle East
TypeExpedition
Patron(s) Frederick V of Denmark-Norway
Organized by University of Copenhagen
Deaths5

The Danish Arabia expedition (Danish : Den Arabiske Rejse) was a Danish scientific expedition to Egypt, Arabia, and Syria. Its principal goal was to elucidate the Old Testament with additional research goals concerned with natural history, geography, and cartography. [1] It had six members, of whom only Carsten Niebuhr survived, returning to Denmark in 1767. The journey has been chronicled by the 20th century novelist, Thorkild Hansen, in his novel Arabia Felix.

Contents

Members

Carsten Niebuhr in the attire of a distinguished Arab in Yemen, gift from al-Mahdi Abbas, Imam of Yemen Niebuhr.jpg
Carsten Niebuhr in the attire of a distinguished Arab in Yemen, gift from al-Mahdi Abbas, Imam of Yemen

Six people went on the expedition, and five died. † denotes which members died on the expedition.

Expedition

Danish expedition to Yemen (1761-1767) Danish Expedition to Yemen map by @deSyracuse.jpg
Danish expedition to Yemen (1761–1767)

The expedition departed from Copenhagen on 4 January 1761, landing at Alexandria and ascending the Nile. Proceeding to Suez, Niebuhr visited Mount Sinai, and then in October 1762 the expedition sailed to Jeddah and then journeyed overland to Mocha. Here, in May 1763, von Haven died, and shortly afterwards Forsskål died. The remaining members of the expedition visited Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, but suffered from the climate and returned to Mocha. Niebuhr seems to have preserved his own life and restored his health by adopting native dress and eating native food.

From Mocha, the expedition continued to Bombay; both Baurenfeind and Berggren died en route, and Kramer died soon after landing. Niebuhr was the only surviving member. He stayed in Bombay for fourteen months and then returned home by way of Muscat, Bushire, Shiraz, and Persepolis. His copies of the cuneiform inscriptions at Persepolis proved to be a key turning point in the decipherment of cuneiform and the birth of Assyriology. He also visited the ruins of Babylon (making many important sketches), Baghdad, Basra (where he reported on the Mandaeans), [3] Mosul, and Aleppo. He likely visited the Behistun Inscription around 1764. After a visit to Cyprus, he made a tour through Palestine, crossed the Taurus Mountains to Bursa, reached Constantinople in February 1767, and finally arrived in Copenhagen the following November. [4]

References

  1. Vermeulen, Hans (2008). Early History of Ethnography and Ethnology in the German Enlightenment: Anthropological Discourse in Europe and Asia, 1710-1808. Leiden: Privately published.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rasmussen, Stig T. "The Arabian Journey 1761-1767". kb.dk. Royal Danish Library. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  3. Abdullah, Thabit A. J. (2018). "The Mandaean Community and Ottoman-British Rivalry in Late 19th-Century Iraq: The Curious Case of Shaykh Ṣaḥan". Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient. 61 (3). Brill: 396–425. ISSN   0022-4995. JSTOR   26572309 . Retrieved 2023-07-05.
  4. Rasmussen, Stig T. "The Arabian Journey 1761-1767". kb.dk. Royal Danish Library. Retrieved 1 March 2016.

Further reading