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NIEBUHR, KARSTEN (1733-1815)

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 669 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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NIEBUHR, See also:KARSTEN (1733-1815) , See also:German traveller, was See also:born at Liidingworth, See also:Lauenburg, on the See also:southern border of See also:Holstein, on the 17th of See also:March 1733, the son of a small See also:farmer. He had little See also:education, and for several years of his youth had to do the See also:work of a See also:peasant. His See also:bent was towards See also:mathematics, and he managed to obtain some lessons in See also:surveying. It was while he was working at this subject that one of his teachers, in 176o, proposed to him to join the expedition which was being sent out by See also:Frederick V. of See also:Denmark for the scientific exploration of See also:Egypt, See also:Arabia and See also:Syria. To qualify himself for the work of surveyor and geographer, he studied hard at mathematics for a See also:year and a See also:half before the expedition set out, and also managed to acquire some knowledge of Arabic. The expedition sailed in See also:January 1761, and, landing at See also:Alexandria, ascended the See also:Nile. Proceeding to See also:Suez, Niebuhr made a visit to See also:Mount See also:Sinai, and in See also:October 1762 the expedition sailed from Suez to Jeddah, journeying thence overland to Mocha. Here in May 1763 the philologist of the expedition, See also:van Haven, died, and was followed shortly after by the naturalist See also:Forskal. See also:Sana, the See also:capital of See also:Yemen, was visited, but the remaining members of the expedition suffered so much from the See also:climate or from the mode of See also:life that they returned to Mocha. Niebuhr seems to have saved his own life and restored his See also:health by adopting the native habits as to See also:dress and See also:food. From Mocha the See also:ship was taken to Bombay, the artist of the expedition dying on the passage, and the surgeon soon after landing. Niebuhr was now the only surviving member of the expedition.

He stayed fourteen months at Bombay, and then returned See also:

home by See also:Muscat, See also:Bushire, See also:Shiraz and See also:Persepolis, visited the ruins of See also:Babylon, and thence went to See also:Bagdad, See also:Mosul and See also:Aleppo. After a visit to See also:Cyprus he made a tour through See also:Palestine, See also:crossing Mount See also:Taurus to Brussa, reaching See also:Constantinople in See also:February 1767 and See also:Copenhagen in the following See also:November. He married in 1773, and for some years held a See also:post in the Danish military service which enabled him to reside at Copenhagen. In 1778, however, he accepted a position in the See also:civil service of Holstein, and went to reside at Meldorf, where he died on the 26th of See also:April 1815. Niebuhr was an accurate and careful observer, had the instincts of the See also:scholar, was animated by a high moral purpose, and was rigorously conscientious and anxiously truthful in recording the results of his observation. His See also:works have See also:long been See also:classics on the See also:geography, the See also:people, the antiquities and the See also:archaeology of much of the See also:district of Arabia which he traversed. His first See also:volume, Beschreibung von Arabien, was published at Copenhagen in 1772, the Danish See also:government de-fraying the expenses of the abundant illustrations. This was followed in 17i4—1?78 by two other volumes, Reisebeschreibungvon Arabien and anderen umliegenden Landern. The See also:fourth volume was not published till 1837, long after his See also:death, under the editorship of Niebuhr's daughter. He also undertook the task of bringing out the work of his friend Forskal, the naturalist of the expedition, under the titles of Descriptiones animaliunz, See also:Flora Aegyptiaco-Arabica, and hones rerum naturalium (Copenhagen, 1775-1776). To a German periodical, the Deutsches Museum, Niebuhr contributed papers on the interior of See also:Africa, the See also:political and military See also:condition of the See also:Turkish See also:empire, and other subjects. See also:French and Dutch See also:translations of his narratives were published during his lifetime, and a condensed See also:English See also:translation, by See also:Robert See also:Heron, of the first three volumes in See also:Edinburgh (1792).

His son Barthold (see above) published a See also:

short Life at See also:Kiel in 1817; an English version was issued in 1838 in the Lives of Eminent Men, published by the Society for the See also:Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. See D. G. See also:Hogarth, The Penetration of Arabia (" See also:Story of Exploration " See also:series) (1904).

End of Article: NIEBUHR, KARSTEN (1733-1815)

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