Richard Francis Burton

Sir Richard Francis Burton (March 19, 1821 – October 19, 1890), British consul, explorer, translator, writer and Orientalist known for his often-unprecedented exploits of travel and exploration as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures.

First explorations and journey to Mecca

He was appointed to the Sind survey, which enabled him to mix with the people, and he frequently passed as a native in the bazaars and deceived his own native language teacher as well as his colonel and messmates.

Related Topics:
Sind - Bazaar

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His wanderings in Sind were the apprenticeship for the pilgrimage to Mecca, and his seven years in India laid the foundations of his unparalleled familiarity with Eastern life and customs, especially among the lower classes.

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His investigations of Indian prostitution, both male and female, were shocking to his countrymen.

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The pilgrimage to Mecca in 1853 made Burton famous.

Related Topics:
Pilgrimage to Mecca - 1853

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He had planned it whilst mixing disguised among the Muslims of Sind, and had laboriously prepared for the ordeal by study and practice (including being circumcised so as to further lower the risk of being discovered).

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No doubt the primary motive was the love of adventure, which was his strongest passion, but it was an explorer's passion, and Burton's journey was approved by the Royal Geographical Society.

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Although he intended to fill in a blank on the map, the area was at war, and his journey went no further than Medina and Mecca.

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Although Burton was not the first European to make the Hajj (that honor belonging to Ludovico di Barthema in 1503http://www.win.tue.nl/~engels/discovery/varthema.html), his pilgrimage is the most famous and the best documented. Burton's trek to Mecca was quite dangerous. As he put it, although "...neither Koran or Sultan enjoin the death of Jew or Christian intruding within the columns that note the sanctuary limits, nothing could save a European detected by the populace, or one who after pilgrimage declared himself an unbeliever." (Penzer, p. 30) He was the first Englishman to take the trip.

Related Topics:
Ludovico di Barthema - 1503 - Mecca

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He disguised himself as a Pathan (modern Pashtun) to account for any oddities in speech, but he still had to demonstrate an understanding of intricate Islamic ritual, and a familiarity with the minutiae of Eastern manners and etiquette. And when he stumbled and needed presence of mind, he concealed himself as a Qadiri sufi.

Related Topics:
Pathan - Islamic - Qadiri

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The journey is recounted in Burton's narrative The Pilgrimage to Al-Medinah and Meccah (1855).

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As the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica put it,

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:"Its vivid descriptions, pungent style, and intensely personal 'note' distinguish it from books of its class; its insight into Semitic modes of thought and its picture of Arab manners give it the value of an historical document; its grim humour, keen observation and reckless insobriety of opinion; expressed in a peculiar, uncouth but vigorous language make it a curiosity of literature."

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