Adriaan Reland (also known as ''Adriaen Reeland/Reelant'', ''Hadrianus Relandus'') (17 July 1676,

De Rijp De Rijp is a village and former island in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Alkmaar, and lies about 10 km northwest of Purmerend, between the Schermer and the Beemster polders. Before the poldering of the ...

North Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...

5 February 1718,

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

John Gorton Sir John Grey Gorton (9 September 1911 – 19 May 2002) was an Australian politician who served as the nineteenth Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1968 to 1971. He led the Liberal Party during that time, having previously been a l ...

, ''A General Biographical Dictionary'', 1838, Whittaker & Co.) was a noted Dutch Orientalist

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

cartographer Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an ...

and

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined ...

. Even though he never left the Netherlands, he made significant contributions to Middle Eastern and Asian linguistics and cartography, including Persia, Japan and the Holy Lands.Dr. Zur Shalev, University of Haifa Digital Gallery, introduction to Reland's book ''Palaestina ex monumentis veteribus illustrata''

Early life

Reland was the son of Johannes Reland, a Protestant minister, and Aagje Prins in the small

village of De Rijp. Adriaan's brother, Peter (1678–1714), was an influential lawyer in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

. Reland first studied

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

language in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

at age 11, and enrolled at

University of Utrecht Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

in 1693, at age 17, to study theology and philosophy. Initially interested in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

and Syriac, he later began studying

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

. In 1699, after obtaining his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in Utrecht, Reland moved to

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration w ...

and tutored the son of Hans Willem Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland. The latter invited him to move to England, but Reland declined because of his father's deteriorating health.

Academic career

In 1699, Reland was appointed Professor of Physics and Metaphysics at the University of Harderwijk. By this point, he had achieved a good knowledge of

, and other

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigrant ...

. In 1701, at age 25, he was appointed Professor of Oriental Languages at the University of Utrecht. Beginning in 1713, he also taught Hebrew Antiquities. This was extended with a Chair in Jewish Antiquity. Reland gained renown for his research in

Islamic studies Islamic studies refers to the academic study of Islam, and generally to academic multidisciplinary "studies" programs—programs similar to others that focus on the history, texts and theologies of other religious traditions, such as Easter ...

and linguistics; his work being an early example of

comparative linguistics Comparative linguistics, or comparative-historical linguistics (formerly comparative philology) is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness. Genetic relatedness ...

. Additionally, he studied Persian and was interested in the relation of Eastern myths to the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

. He published a work concerning East Asian myths, ''Dissertationum miscellanearum partes tres'', in 1708. Moreover, he discovered the link for the

Malay language Malay (; ms, Bahasa Melayu, links=no, Jawi: , Rencong: ) is an Austronesian language that is an official language of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, and that is also spoken in East Timor and parts of the Philippines an ...

to the Western Pacific dictionaries of

Willem Schouten Willem Cornelisz Schouten ( – 1625) was a Dutch navigator for the Dutch East India Company. He was the first to sail the Cape Horn route to the Pacific Ocean. Biography Willem Cornelisz Schouten was born in c. 1567 in Hoorn, Holland, S ...

and Jacob Le Maire.

Research on Middle East

Reland, through compiling Arabic texts, completed ''De religione Mohammedica libri duo'' in 1705. This work, extended in 1717, was considered the first objective survey of Islamic beliefs and practices. It quickly became a reference work throughout Europe and was translated into Dutch, English, German, French and Spanish. Reland also extensively researched Middle Eastern locations and biblical geography, taking interest in the Semitic peoples of Palestine. He published ''Antiquitates Sacrae veterum Hebraeorum'' (1708) and ''Palaestina ex monumentis veteribus illustrata'' (1714), in which he described and mapped the Biblical-era geography of Palestine. Reland retained his professorship for his entire life, and additionally became a noted poet. In 1718, at age 41, he died of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

in Utrecht.

Selection of published works

* '' De religione Mohammedica libri duo'' – the first

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an attempt to systematically describe

Islamic Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ma ...

religious practices. Utrecht 1705, 1717 **Dutch Translation ''Verhandeling van de godsdienst der Mahometaanen, als mede van het krygs-regt by haar ten tyde van oorlog tegens de christenen gebruykelyk.'' Utrecht 1718 ** English translation: ''Of the Mahometan Religion'', Two books. London 1712 **German translation: ''Zwey Bücher von der Türkischen oder Mohammedischen Religion''. Hannover 1716, 1717 ** French translation: ''La Religion des Mahometans exposée par leurs propres Docteurs, avec des éclaircissemens sur les opinions qu'on leur a Faussement attribuées''. The Hague 1721 * '' Palaestina ex monumentis veteribus illustrata'' – a detailed geographical survey of biblical Palestine, written in

. Published by Willem Broedelet. Utrecht 1714 ** ''Dutch translation: Palestine opgeheldert, ofte they gelegentheyd van het Joodsche country.'' * ''Analecta rabbinica.'' Utrecht 1702, 1723 * ''Dissertationum miscellanearum partes tres.'' Utrecht 1706–1708, 3 Teile * ''Antiquitates sacrae veterum Hebraeorum.'' Utrecht 1708, 3. uppl. 1717, 1741 * ''De nummis veterum Hebraeorum.'' Utrecht 1709 * ''Brevis introductio ad grammaticam Hebraeam Altingianam.'' Utrecht 2. uppl. 1710, 1722 *''De natuurlijke wijsgeer'' – a Dutch translation of

Ibn Tufail Ibn Ṭufail (full Arabic name: ; Latinized form: ''Abubacer Aben Tofail''; Anglicized form: ''Abubekar'' or ''Abu Jaafar Ebn Tophail''; c. 1105 – 1185) was an Arab Andalusian Muslim polymath: a writer, Islamic philosopher, Islamic the ...

's Arabic novel '' Hayy ibn Yaqdhan''. Printed by Pieter van der Veer. Amsterdam 1701 *''Galatea. Lusus poetica'' – a collection of Latin love-elegies, which brought Reland some fame as a Neolatin poet. Amsterdam 1701 Acta Eruditorum - III bassorilievi, 1717 – BEIC 13390016

Acta Eruditorum - III bassorilievi, 1717 – BEIC 13390016

Acta Eruditorum - II menorah, 1717 – BEIC 13390016

Gallery

Map_of_Western_Java_(1718).jpg, Map of Western Java, 1718.

Bibliography

* Jaski, Bart, et al., editors. The Orient in Utrecht: Adriaan Reland (1676-1718), Arabist, Cartographer, Antiquarian and Scholar of Comparative Religion. Brill, 2021, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctv1v7zb8g. Accessed 15 May 2022.

References

External links

Literature on Reland in Dutch Digital Library (DBNL)

Maps by Reland

Complete bibliography on WorldCat

''Hadriani Relandi Analecta Rabbinica'', 2-nd ed. 1723 on Google Books

''Hadriani Relandi Palaestina ex monumentis veteribus illustrata'' 1714 on Google Books

Map of Palestine by Relnad, 1714
Eran Laor Cartographic Collection. The

National Library of Israel The National Library of Israel (NLI; he, הספרייה הלאומית, translit=HaSifria HaLeumit; ar, المكتبة الوطنية في إسرائيل), formerly Jewish National and University Library (JNUL; he, בית הספרים הלא� ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reland, Adrian 1676 births 1718 deaths People from Graft-De Rijp 17th-century Latin-language writers 18th-century Latin-language writers 18th-century male writers Christian Hebraists Dutch cartographers Linguists from the Netherlands Dutch orientalists Dutch male poets New Latin-language poets University of Harderwijk faculty Cartographers of the Middle East 16th-century cartographers 17th-century cartographers Historical geographers Palestinologists