Frederic Louis Norden (22 October 1708 – 22 September 1742) was a
Danish naval captain, cartographer, and archaeological explorer. Also known as ''Frederick'', ''Frederik'', ''Friderick'', ''Ludwig'', ''Ludvig'' and ''Lewis'', names used on the publications of his famous ''
Voyage d'Egypte et de Nubie''.
Biography
Norden was born in
Holstein-Glückstadt. He entered the
Royal Danish Naval Academy at Copenhagen in 1722.
He was sent on a study mission abroad in 1732. Norden made a voyage through
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
all the way down to
Sudan
Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...
in 1737–1738. At the request of King
Christian VI of Denmark
Christian VI (30 November 1699 – 6 August 1746) was King of Denmark and Norway from 1730 to 1746. The eldest surviving son of Frederick IV of Denmark, Frederick IV and Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, he is considered one of Denmark-Norway's m ...
, he was to enter into a trade agreement with Ethiopia on behalf of Denmark. Norden made abundant notes, observations and drawings of everything around him, including people, pharaonic monuments, architecture, installations and maps.
On 8 January 1741 he became a Fellow of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
of London (registered as ''Frederic Lewis Norden''). He died of tuberculosis the following year in Paris. Norden had prepared the publication of his travel notes all of which were published in the posthumous ''Voyage d'Egypte et de Nubie'' (Copenhagen, 1755).
Carl Marcus Tuscher (1705–1751) from Nuremberg made the drawings into copperplates for the publication. In 1757 an English edition was published, in 1779 a German edition and in 1795 a French edition.
[
]
Works
Drawings of some ruins and colossal statues at Thebes in Egypt 1741
Drawing from ''Voyage d'Egypte et de Nubie''
Voyage d'Egypte et de Nubie 3 par Norden 1795.png, ''Voyage d'Egypte et de Nubie''
(1795) Paris: Pierre Didot l'aine
Voyage d'Egypte et de Nubie 1 par Norden 1795.png, ''Voyage d'Egypte et de Nubie''
(1795) Paris: Pierre Didot l'aine
References
Other sources
*
Additional reading
*Buhl, Marie-Louise, et al.: ''The Danish Naval Officer, Frederik Ludvig Norden'', (
Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters: Copenhagen, 1986)
External links
''Voyage d'Égypte et de Nubie''University of Oslo
1708 births
1742 deaths
18th-century Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy officers
Scientists from Schleswig-Holstein
Danish explorers
Danish cartographers
Danish travel writers
Fellows of the Royal Society
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