Group+1+Richard+Burton,+Travels+in+Arabia

Sir Richard Francis Burton

 * Early Life and Education**

[[image:burton.jpg align="right" caption="Sir Richard Burton"]]
Richard Francis Burton was born in Torquay, Devon on M arch 19th 1821 in a family home located in Hertfordshire. His father was Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Netterville Burton and was born in Ireland but served in the British army. His mother, Martha Baker, was an heiress of the wealthy Hertfordshire squire, Richard Baker. Richard Burton had one brother, Edward Joseph Netterville Burton, and one sister, Maria Katherine Elizabeth Burton. Burton's family traveled a significant amount during his childhood. They moved to Tours, France in 1825. Burton's earliest education was taught by various tutors that were employed along the way by his parents. His formal education began in 1829 at a preparatory school in Richmond, London. His family traveled between England, France, and Italy over the next few years where Burton showed a gift for learning languages, quickly developing skills in French, Italian, Neopolitan, and Latin. Richard Burton attended Trinity College, Oxford, starting in November 1840. Before moving into the dorm he lived with Dr. William Alexander Greenhill for a short time. Burton was known for being extremely intelligent but was considered a nuisance by most of his teachers and fellow students. He furthered his interest in language by studying Arabic. In 1842, Burton was expelled from Trinity for attending an event that was not open to the student body. He knew attending was in direct violation to college rules but hoped to be suspended rather than permanently expelled from the school.


 * Military Career and First Explorations**

Richard Burton joined the East India Company army in 1842 with hopes of serving in the first Afghan war but the conflict ended before his departure for India. Burton was place in the 18th Bombay Native Infantry in Gujarat. While there he learned to speak Persian, Arabic, Gujarati, Panjabi, Hindustani, and Marathi. Some of Burton's fellow soldiers considered his interest and participation in the cultures and religions of India to be very odd. Appointed to the Sindh survey, he learned to use measuring equipment which would later be extremely useful to him as an explorer. This is when he first began to travel in disguise. Burton did some undercover work investigating a Brothel in Karachi before returning to Europe on sick leave in 1849, and writing his first book the year after.

In 1851 Richard Burton got approval from the Royal Geographic Society for an expedition to Mecca and Medina. The journey took place in 1853 and was the expedition that made Burton famous.


 * Later Explorations**

After returning to Cairo from his "pilgrimage" to Mecca, Burton traveled back to India to rejoin his regiment. In 1854 he switched from the army to the political department of the East India Company and went to the Arabian Peninsula in order to prepare for a new expedition. This journey, supported by the Royal Geographic Society to explore Somalia and beyond, is where Burton hoped to discover large lakes he had heard about from Arab travelers. It was September of this year that Burton first met Captain John Hanning Speke who would also be present on Burton's most famous exploration. Burton went on the first part of the trip alone, making an expedition to Harar, which no European had accomplished. After his adventure alone he reunited with Captain Speke and a few others to continue into Somalia. Before they were able to leave camp they were bombarded by hundreds of Somalian warriors, leaving Burton wounded and Speke wounded and captured for some time. The trip was considered a failure by authorities, and although Burton was cleared of most the blame it did not help his career. The Royal Geographic Society funded another of Burton's expeditions; a journey west from the east coast of Africa in order to discover a large lake and possibly the source of the River Nile. Once again accompanied by Speke, they left in June of 1857 helped by the Omani Arabs who lived and traded in the area. Both men were set back by various diseases and ailments during their trip. Speke was blind and partially deaf from an infection when they came across the first body of water, Lake Tanganyika. Burton fell ill on the journey back and was unable to continue with Speke on his expedition to Lake Victoria and later Lake Albert. After the discovery of Lake Victoria and Albert it was confident that the Europeans had discovered the source of the River Nile, but this wasn't completely proven by Speke's exploration.

In 1861 Richard married his Catholic wife Isabel, but did not adopt the Catholic faith at this time. They were forced to spend some time apart just after the ceremony and were not reunited until 1865 when Burton was transferred to Santos, Brazil. There he traveled through the central highlands, then canoed down the Sao Francisco river from its source. Burton was made consul in Damascus in 1869, a perfect spot for someone with Burton's experience of the region and customs. At the time there was much turmoil among the Christians, Muslims, and Jewish populations, Burton often found himself in considerable danger. He also published a number of books in this period which were not well received by the public. The most popularly known of these books was the The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, more commonly referred to as The Arabian Nights. Richard Francis Burton died in Trieste on October 20, 1890 of a heart attack. Persuaded by his wife Isabel, the priest performed his last rights even though Burton was not a Catholic. This later caused trouble between Isabel and some of Burton's friends.
 * Other Accomplishments and Death**


 * Richard Burton as Colonial Traveler**

Guided by the mantra: ” ** To be the first in everything; to b **** e s **** econd in **** nothing!” **** Richard Burton traveled between Arabia an **** d Africa with the **** granted approval of the Royal Geographic Society on the most famous and **** best documented exploration of his time “… **effectively opened the continent to a century of subsequent Western colonial activity” (Wisnicki)**. **
 * Burton’s “characteristic daring” (Burton 13) transformed **** his narratives into adventurous essays, but the catalyst and the reason for his journeys were anthropological. Th **** is can be documented through the numerous sketches and notes Burton took and also the structure of the articles, which were written as academic lectures “As a lecturer, he assumed the role of an authoritative and assured citizen of the world.” (Burton 9). **
 * Burton’s tedious descriptions (“The present building, which is almost four centuries old, is of cut stone, forming an oblong of 420 feet by 340 feet” (30)) are what mark him as an anthropologist, but it is his quest to become ‘one of’ the Mohammedans that separate him from other explorers of the time. **
 * When entering Mecca, Burton states that the gate of security was “…the most auspicious entrance for a first visit.” (43). Burton attempts to become ‘one’ with the natives to further his chances of success on repeated visits. While Burton is not one of the first Europeans to enter Mecca he is the first to observe the Mohammedans in their natural habitat, disguising himself as “one born of the faith” (Burton 13). **
 * Although Burton was not the first to visit Mecca he was the first to visit Harrar. “Harrar had not been visited by English explorers, and both the route and the destination were hazardous.” (60). There is a shift in Burton’s thinking between Mecca and Harrar. Burton ‘s use of current economic thought clouds his vision as anthropologist. Even though “ **’future adventurers’ always ‘assume the character of traders’” (Wisnicki) and it was the British East India Company that allowed him to go on his journey, Burton’s tone switches from an attempt at native character acting to no attempt at all. ** Burton quotes Mr. Missionary Rebma on what the continent of Africa looks like “…wears the appearance of a huge monster-slave, bent down by his burden, and looking despondently towards America.” Then says himself “America has been the negro’s best friend—to him the saddest view in the world must be the way home.” (Burton 64). **
 * Burton’s anthropological and economic quests make him a colonial traveler. It should be noted that both the British East India Company and the Royal Geographic Society had to grant Burton permission to go on his travels throughout Arabia and Africa. While it was his idiosyncrasies that made h **** im famous it was his pictures and lectures that opened the European discussion on unexplored territories and unanalyzed cultures. **


 * Burton's Travel Narrative**

“It is clear that he found the Islamic faith and culture appealing at a deeply emotional level, and he immersed himself in this worldview. At the same time, he maintained his ideological attachment to the British Empire, to the imperatives of power and the opportunities it presented for personal advancement.” (Kennedy Pg 70) In his narrative //Travels in Arabia and Africa//, Sir Richard Burton is fed up with his dull life in London and wants to continue to serve her majesty’s interest by visiting the two holiest sites to Muslims, Mecca and Medina during the Hajj or religious pilgrimage, in order to map them while having an adventure that could possibly result in death in case anything goes wrong. Sir Richard goes through a variety of disguises trying to look like a Pathan, Sufi, Persian or Hindustani but soon nothing is left but an Arab, either because he is recognizable or doesn’t want to be a victim of sectarian or ethnic violence when dealing with the Wahabi sect of Islam, whom are very hostile towards Muslims who don’t belong to the Sunni sect. On his first attempt to disguise himself as an “Oriental” Burton wanted to take on the identity of as a Sufi from Persian but his companion Wali urged him to abandon the idea which was too risky given the prevalence of Persian pilgrims and the harassment they face due to their Shia beliefs would stir up the Sunni majority. “The picture of this one solitary Christian among these fanatical Moslems is an interesting one. A little fault, a mistake in some small ceremony, would have meant a peculiarly unpleasant death at the hands of blood thirsty fanatics.” (Dodge, 75)

Travelling with a caravan Burton performs the Hajj and even visits the tombs of the Prophet Muhammad and his family, circled around the holy site of the Kaaba, a large stone structure made by Abraham and his son Ishmael, and praying alongside fifty to eighty thousand Muslims from all over the world in over 120 degree weather. When Burton returned from his mission and wrote of his travels of the two holy cities his popularity among his fellow Englishmen made him an instant celebrity and even socialized with prominent actors such as Henry Irving and Ellen Terry. Dane Kennedy of Harvard University in his 2005 book //The// //Highly Civilized Man Richard Burton and the Victorian World,// believes that the fact that he was able to deceive the guardians of Islam’s holiest shrines and gain access to their inner sanctums supplied the story with its triumphant resolution, is proof of his thespian talents. (Kennedy, Pg 68) This may be true but Burton’s appearance, knowledge of medicine, and his ability to speak Arabic, Farsi and Hindustani fluently gave him the advantage that missionaries or heads of states could only dream of. His narrative shows no signs of any religious or racial prejudice towards the “Mohamadan” although they may have some moments where he is comparing Islam to Christianity such as the when he compares the Mosque to a Church, which is a very common misconception.

= = **References** 1) Kennedy, Dane K. //The Highly Civilized Man: Richard Burton and the Victorian Wor////ld//. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2005. 2) Dodge, Walter P. //The Real Sir Richard Burton//. London: T.F. Unwin, 1907. 3) Burton, Richard. //Sir Richard Burton's Travels in Arabia and Africa//. Sa Marino: Huntington Library, 2005. Print. 4) Wisnicki, Adrian S. "Charting the Frontier: Indigenous Geography, Arab-Nyamwezi Caravans, and the East African Expedition of 1856-59." //Victorian Studies// 51.1 (2008). //Project Muse//. Web. 20 June 2010.