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Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
Sir Richard Francis Burton, KCMG,
FRGS The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...
, (19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, army officer, orientalist writer and scholar. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa and South America, as well as his extensive knowledge of languages and cultures, speaking up to 29 different languages. Born in
Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignt ...
,
Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
, Burton joined the
Bombay Army The Bombay Army was the army of the Bombay Presidency, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire. It was established in 1668 and governed by the East India Company until the Government of India Act 1858 transferr ...
as an officer in 1842, beginning an eighteen-year military career which included a brief stint in the
Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...
. He was subsequently engaged by the
Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...
(RGS) to explore the
East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...
n coast, where Burton along with
John Hanning Speke Captain John Hanning Speke (4 May 1827 – 15 September 1864) was an English explorer and army officer who made three exploratory expeditions to Africa. He is most associated with the search for the source of the Nile and was the first Eu ...
led an expedition to discover the source of the
Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...
and became the first European known to have seen
Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika ( ; ) is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake. It is the world's List of lakes by volume, second-largest freshwater lake by volume and the List of lakes by depth, second deepest, in both cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. ...
. He later served as the British
consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...
in Fernando Pó, Santos,
Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...
and
Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...
. Burton was also a Fellow of the RGS and was awarded a
knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...
hood in 1886. His best-known achievements include undertaking the
Hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...
to
Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...
in disguise, translating ''
One Thousand and One Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights'', from the first English-language edition ( ...
'' and ''
The Perfumed Garden ''The Perfumed Garden of Sensual Delight'' ( ''Al-rawḍ al-ʿāṭir fī nuzhaẗ al-ḫāṭir''), also known as the Arabic Kama Sutra, is a fifteenth-century Arabic sex manual and work of erotic literature by Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Nefza ...
'', and publishing the ''
Kama Sutra The ''Kama Sutra'' (; , , ; ) is an ancient Indian Hindu Sanskrit text on sexuality, eroticism and emotional fulfillment. Attributed to Vātsyāyana, the ''Kamasutra'' is neither exclusively nor predominantly a sex manual on sex positions ...
'' in English. Although he abandoned his university studies, Burton became a prolific and erudite author and wrote numerous books and academic articles on subjects such as
human behaviour Human behavior is the potential and expressed capacity ( mentally, physically, and socially) of human individuals or groups to respond to internal and external stimuli throughout their life. Behavior is driven by genetic and environmental ...
,
travel Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical Location (geography), locations. Travel can be done by Pedestrian, foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without Baggage, luggage, a ...
,
falconry Falconry is the hunting of wild animals in their natural state and habitat by means of a trained bird of prey. Small animals are hunted; squirrels and rabbits often fall prey to these birds. Two traditional terms are used to describe a person ...
,
fencing Fencing is a combat sport that features sword fighting. It consists of three primary disciplines: Foil (fencing), foil, épée, and Sabre (fencing), sabre (also spelled ''saber''), each with its own blade and set of rules. Most competitive fe ...
,
sexual practices Human sexual activity, human sexual practice or human sexual behaviour is the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual acts, ranging from activities done alone (e.g., masturbation) t ...
and
ethnography Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...
.


Biography


Early life

Richard Burton was born in
Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignt ...
,
Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
, on 19 March 1821; in his autobiography, he incorrectly claimed to have been born in the family home of Barham House in
Elstree Elstree is a large village in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire, England. It is about northwest of central London on the former A5 road, which follows the course of Watling Street. In 2011, its population was 5,110. It forms part of the ...
,
Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...
. Burton was baptised on 2 September 1821 at Elstree Church in
Borehamwood Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 36,322, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly know ...
, Hertfordshire. His father, Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Netterville Burton, was an
Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...
officer in the
British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
's
36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot The 36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1701. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot to form the Worcestershire Regiment in 1881. It ...
. Joseph, through his mother's family, the Campbells of
Tuam Tuam (; , meaning 'mound' or 'burial-place') is a town in Ireland and the second-largest settlement in County Galway. It is west of the midland Region, Ireland, midlands of Ireland, about north of Galway city. The town is in a civil parishe ...
, was a first cousin of Henry Pearce Driscoll and Eliza Graves. Burton's mother, Martha Baker, was the daughter and co-heiress of Richard Baker, a wealthy Hertfordshire
squire In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight. Boys served a knight as an attendant, doing simple but important tasks such as saddling a horse or caring for the knight's weapons and armour. Terminology ''Squire'' ...
whom Burton was named after. He had two siblings, Maria Katherine Elizabeth Burton (who married Lieutenant-General Sir Henry William Stisted) and Edward Joseph Netterville Burton. In his early life, Burton grew up between Elstree, England, the home of Richard's esteemed and wealthy namesake, Richard Baker, and, initially,
Tours, France Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metropolitan ar ...
, the latter after their father sought a better climate for his asthma. The transition to Tours appears to have been before the death of Baker, on 16 September 1824. Burton was looked after while very young, in both England and France, by the family's "Hertfordshire nurse, Mrs. Ling, a good, but obstinately English soul"; his formal, early education began at a school in Tours, taught by "a lame Irishman named Clough", which was followed, when "for the children’s sake" the family moved to a house in the Rue De L’Archeveche, "the best street" in Tours, after which " e little Burtons... attended the academy of a Mr. John Gilchrist, who grounded them in Latin and Greek". The Colonel, earlier preoccupied with (but also sustaining injury by)
boar hunting Boar hunting is the practice of hunting wild boar, feral pigs, warthogs, and peccaries. Boar hunting was historically a dangerous exercise due to the tusked animal's ambush tactics as well as its thick hide and dense bones rendering them difficu ...
, eventually began a pursuit of the study of
chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
, including experimental, that would persist for some time, while, during forays "into society", becoming known for his ability to "inexpressibly shoc .. sensitive company" in his directness of speech (e.g., publicly referring to “an adulteress” in that way), a characteristic that Thomas Wright, in his ''Life'', suggests the son having learned from the father. The Burton family returned to England in 1829, and Richard and his brother Edward were sent to a preparatory school at
Richmond Green Richmond Green is a recreation area near the centre of Richmond, London, Richmond, a town of about 20,000 inhabitants situated in south-west London. Owned by the Crown Estate, it is leased to the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. The Gree ...
run by a
Reverend The Reverend (abbreviated as The Revd, The Rev'd or The Rev) is an honorific style (form of address), style given to certain (primarily Western Christian, Western) Christian clergy and Christian minister, ministers. There are sometimes differen ...
Charles Delafosse, a school that Wright describes in his ''Life'' as having "fees
hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...
were high", and the school as being "badly conducted" with the boys being "both ill-taught and ill-fed". By the time measles broke out in the school, the Colonel had "tired of Richmond", and after arranging tutors for the children—a Rev. H. R. Du Pre for the boys, and a "peony-faced lady named Miss Ruxton" for Maria—the family moved to Blois, France (Du Pre continuing tenaciously, but Ruxton returning home, having "g
ven Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It comprises an area of , and its popul ...
up in despair"). The time in Blois would amount to a year, after which, via
Marseille, France Marseille (; ; see below) is a city in southern France, the prefecture of the department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the Provence region, it is located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, ...
and "Leghorn" (
Livorno, Italy Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...
), on the coast of
Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...
,), the family settled in
Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...
, allowing the boys to become "proficient in Italian and drawing", and to begin the violin (against which Richard would rebel, and in which Edward would excel). By July 1832, they were in
Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...
and
Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...
, then
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
,
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
and
Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
, then
Sorrento Sorrento ( , ; ; ) is a City status in Italy, city and overlooking the Gulf of Naples, Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the southern terminus of a main branch o ...
and
Capri Capri ( , ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. A popular resort destination since the time of the Roman Republic, its natural beauty ...
(with Rev. Du Pre yet in tow, and the Colonel still devoted to pursuits related to " ygen, abandoning... mass” to become a gas). At this juncture, the boys are described as having become "generally ungovernable", with escapades that included "a visit to a house of poor reputation" and thwarted whipping by father and tutor. Colonel Burton quit England again for France in 1836, for Pau in the south, and soon again after, for Italy, first
Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...
, then
Lucca Città di Lucca ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its Province of Lucca, province has a population of 383,9 ...
, where the sons divided time "ruffl ngit with a number of dissolute medical students" learning "several quite original wickednesses", and time spent under the influence of their parents, in "more wholesome society", in the latter case with introductions to the painter Louis Desanges, to "Helen Croly, daughter of... /nowiki>George Croly, author of">George_Croly.html" ;"title="/nowiki>George Croly">/nowiki>George Croly, author of''Salathiel''", and to Virginia Gabriel, later a composer, and daughter of an English Major-general.Wright (1906)
vol. 1, p. 52ff
"Being subject to asthma, Colonel Burton now left England and hired a chateau called Beausejour situated on an eminence near Tours, where there was an English colony. For several years the family fluctuated between Tours and Elstree...".
As well, during his youth, he allegedly had a sexual relationship with a
Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...
girl and learned the rudiments of the
Romani language Romani ( ; also Romanes , Romany, Roma; ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani people. The largest of these are Vlax Romani language, Vlax Romani (about 500,000 speakers), Balkan Romani (600,000), and Sinte Roma ...
. The peregrinations of Burton's youth may have encouraged him to regard himself as an outsider for much of his life. He would later write, "Do what thy manhood bids thee do, from none but self expect applause". Throughout the foregoing period, Burton had ample opportunity to learn languages, modern and ancient, for which he had demonstrated aptitude; prior to departing for university, he had become acquainted with written, ancient Greek and Latin, and had become fluent in French,
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
, and modern Greek, quickly learning these as well as
Neapolitan Neapolitan means of or pertaining to Naples, a city in Italy; or to: Geography and history * Province of Naples, a province in the Campania region of southern Italy that includes the city * Duchy of Naples, in existence during the Early and High ...
and several dialects. According to biographer Ed Rice, during Burton's days at university, he would
sti the bile of the dons by speaking real—that is, Roman—Latin instead of the artificial type peculiar to England, and y speaking
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
Romaically, with the accent of
Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
, as he had learned it from a Greek merchant at
Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
, as well as nowingthe classical forms. Such a linguistic feat was a tribute to Burton's remarkable ear and memory, for he was only a teenager when... in Italy and southern France."
In October 1840, he
matriculated Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term ''matriculation'' is seldom used now ...
at
Trinity College, Oxford Trinity College (full name: The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope (Knight)) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in E ...
. Before getting a room at the college, Burton was coached by William Alexander Greenhill and by a "Dr. Ogle"; he lived for a short time in the house of Greenhill, a doctor at the
Radcliffe Infirmary The Radcliffe Infirmary was a hospital in central north Oxford, England, located at the southern end of Woodstock Road on the western side, backing onto Walton Street. Closed in 2007, after refurbishment the building was re-opened in October ...
. Wright, in his ''Life'', notes that Burton "spent his first months, not in studying, but in rowing, ndfencing"—in the latter case, in the "fencing saloons" of an Italian and a Scotsman, with mastery of
foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ma ...
and
broad-sword The basket-hilted sword is a sword type of the early modern era characterised by a basket-shaped guard that protects the hand. The basket hilt is a development of the quillons added to swords' crossguards since the Late Middle Ages. This varie ...
—to which he added
falconry Falconry is the hunting of wild animals in their natural state and habitat by means of a trained bird of prey. Small animals are hunted; squirrels and rabbits often fall prey to these birds. Two traditional terms are used to describe a person ...
. As well, he had engaged in "shooting the college rooks, and breaking the rules generally", and, despite his expressed respect, in pranks "at the expense of Dr. Jenkins". For all the experiences and education Burton brought with him to Oxford, he described his reception there as being unpleasant, and disparaged its educational offerings, stating that the "college teaching for which one was obliged to pay... was of the most worthless description", with " o hours a day... regularly wasted", noting that "those who read for honours... choose and pay a private coach". On a personal level, he describes having "grown a splendid moustache... the envy of all the boys abroad", that, despite his mentors Greenhill and Ogle advising removal, was only shaved after being given formal college orders; he describes having
already formed strong ideas upon the Shaven Age of England, when her history, with some brilliant exceptions, such as Marlborough, Wellington and Nelson, was at its meanest.
On being laughed at by a fellow undergraduate, he responded by challenging him to a
duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people with matched weapons. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and later the small sword), but beginning in ...
. While there, he sat under the Christian teaching of
John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English Catholic theologian, academic, philosopher, historian, writer, and poet. He was previously an Anglican priest and after his conversion became a cardinal. He was an ...
, " e only preacher Burton would listen to"; Greenhill, Burton's mentor, was Newman's
churchwarden A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish or congregation of the Anglican Communion, Lutheran Churches or Catholic Church, usually working as a part-time volunteer. In the Anglican tradition, holders of these positions are ''ex officio'' mem ...
. Still, Burton "longed to excel as a linguist, and particularly in Oriental languages", and sought to learn
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
, approaching the
Regius Professor A Regius Professor is a university Professor (highest academic rank), professor who has, or originally had, Monarchy of the United Kingdom, royal patronage or appointment. They are a unique feature of academia in the United Kingdom and Republic ...
—whose retort was that professors did not teach individuals—and then going it alone, with "a little assistance from the Spanish scholar Don Pascual de Gayangos". In April 1842, Burton attended a
steeplechase SteepleChase Records is a jazz record company and label based in Copenhagen, Denmark. SteepleChase was founded in 1972 by Nils Winther, who was a student at Copenhagen University at the time. He began recording concerts at Jazzhus Montmartre, ...
event at the Oxford races, an act forbidden "at the last moment" by the college; the culprits being brought before the same on the morning following the event, "the dons having lectured Burton, he began lecturing them"—in particular, observing that "young men ought not to be treated like children". As such, while all other offenders were "rusticated" (temporarily expelled), Burton was instead permanently expelled from Oxford.Wright (1906)
Chapter II, "October 1840-April 1842 / Oxford", Sections 6 and 7
The material in support of his expulsion clearly draws from §7; Chapter II, on the whole, is devoted to Burton's Oxford experiences.


Bombay Army career

In his own words, "fit for nothing but to be shot at for six pence a day", Burton was commissioned into the
Bombay Army The Bombay Army was the army of the Bombay Presidency, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire. It was established in 1668 and governed by the East India Company until the Government of India Act 1858 transferr ...
at the behest of his former classmates in college who were already serving as officers there. He had hoped to fight in the
First Anglo-Afghan War The First Anglo-Afghan War () was fought between the British Empire and the Emirate of Kabul from 1838 to 1842. The British initially successfully invaded the country taking sides in a succession dispute between emir Dost Mohammad Khan ( Bara ...
, but the conflict was over by the time Burton arrived in India. He was posted to the 18th Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry, which was stationed in
Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...
and under the command of General
Charles James Napier General Sir Charles James Napier, ( ; 10 August 178229 August 1853) was an officer and veteran of the British Army's Peninsular and 1812 campaigns, and later a major general of the Bombay Army, during which period he led the British military co ...
. He earned the nickname "Ruffian Dick", for his "demonic ferocity as a fighter and because he had fought in single combat more enemies than perhaps any other man of his time". While in India, he became a proficient speaker of
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
and Arabic, as well as Hindustani, Gujarati, Punjabi, Sindhi, Saraiki, and
Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...
, having passed six formal language examinations, and being in the process of studying for two more. (And while in the Bombay Army, he kept a large
menagerie A menagerie is a collection of captive animals, frequently exotic, kept for display; or the place where such a collection is kept, a precursor to the modern zoo or zoological garden. The term was first used in 17th-century France, referring to ...
of tame monkeys in the hopes of learning their language, and has been quoted as stating he had accumulated sixty "words" of their speech.) Burton also had a documented interest and actively participated in the
cultures Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
and
religions of India Indian religions, sometimes also termed Dharmic religions or Indic religions, are the religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent. These religions, which include Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism,Adams, C. J."Classification o ...
. This was one of the many peculiar habits that set him apart from other British officers in India. According to a Burton autobiographical work, his studies of
Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
culture had progressed to such an extent that "my Hindu teacher officially allowed me to wear the '' janeo''". Burton's religious experiences were varied, including attending Catholic services, becoming a Naga Brahmin, converting to
Sikhism Sikhism is an Indian religion and Indian philosophy, philosophy that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups, major religio ...
and
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
, and undergoing the '' chilla'' retreat for
Qadiriyya The Qadiriyya () or the Qadiri order () is a Sunni Sufi order (''Tariqa'') founded by Abdul Qadir Gilani (1077–1166, also transliterated ''Jilani''), who was a Hanbali scholar from Gilan, Iran. The order, with its many sub-orders, is widesp ...
Sufism Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...
. Regarding Burton's Muslim beliefs, Rice stated that "he was circumcised, and made a Muslim, and lived like a Muslim and prayed and practiced like one." Furthermore, Burton, "was entitled to call himself a '' hāfiz'', one who can recite the
Qur'ān The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
from memory." According to Rice, "Burton now regarded the seven years in India as time wasted." Yet he had passed six language examinations, was en route to two further, and so is described by Rice as "eminently qualified."{{clarify, date=May 2025{{citation needed, date=May 2025


First explorations and journey to Mecca

Motivated by his love for adventure, Burton gained the approval of the
Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...
(RGS) for an exploration of the
Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
, and, now at the rank of captain, received permission from the
directors Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...
of the
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
(EIC) to take leave from the Bombay Army. The seven years he spent in India gave Burton a familiarity with the customs and behaviour of
Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
and prepared him to attempt a
Hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...
to
Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...
and
Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...
. He planned it whilst travelling disguised among Muslims in
Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...
, and had laboriously prepared it by studying and practising Muslim culture, including undergoing
circumcision Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. T ...
to further lower the risk of being discovered.{{Page range too broad, date=May 2025{{failed verification, date=May 2025 Burton's undertaking of the Hajj in 1853 was his realisation of "the plans and hopes of many and many a year... to study thoroughly the inner life of the Moslem."{{quote without source, date=May 2025 He donned the guise of a Persian mirza, and then a
Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...
sheikh Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to me ...
, doctor, magician and
dervish Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from ) in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity (''tariqah''), or more narrowly to a religious mendicant, who chose or accepted material poverty. The latter usage is found particularly in Persi ...
, accompanied by an enslaved Indian boy named Nūr. In April, he travelled through
Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...
before reaching
Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
by May, where Burton stayed during
Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...
in June. He further equipped himself with a case for carrying the Quran, but which instead had three compartments for his watch, compass, money, penknife, pencils and numbered pieces of paper for taking notes.{{verify source, date=May 2025 Burton travelled onwards with a group of nomads to
Suez Suez (, , , ) is a Port#Seaport, seaport city with a population of about 800,000 in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea, near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal. It is the capital and largest c ...
before sailing to Yambu and joining a caravan to Medina, where he arrived on 27 July. Departing Medina with a caravan on 31 August, Burton entered Mecca on 11 September, where he participated in the
Tawaf The Kaaba (), also spelled Kaba, Kabah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaba al-Musharrafa (), is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and Holiest sites in Islam, holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Sa ...
. He travelled to
Mount Arafat Mount Arafat (, or ) is a granodiorite hill about southeast of Mecca, in the Makkah Province, province of the same name in Saudi Arabia. It is approximately in height, with its highest point sitting at an elevation of . The Prophet Muhammad, ...
and participated in the
stoning of the Devil The Stoning of the Devil ( , "stone throwing, throwing of the ' lace of pebbles) is part of the annual Islamic Hajj pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. During the ritual, Muslim pilgrims throw pebbles at three walls (formerl ...
, all the while taking notes on the
Kaaba The Kaaba (), also spelled Kaba, Kabah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaba al-Musharrafa (), is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and Holiest sites in Islam, holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Sa ...
, its
Black Stone The Black Stone () is a rock set into the eastern corner of the Kaaba, the ancient building in the center of the Masjid al-Haram, Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is revered by Muslims as an Islamic relic which, according to Muslim tradi ...
and the
Zamzam Well The Zamzam Well ( ) is a Water well, well located within the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is located east of the Kaaba, the holiest place in Islam. In the Islamic teachings, the well is a miraculously generated source of water, ...
. Departing Mecca, he journeyed to
Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...
and then back to Cairo, returning to Army duty in
Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...
. In India, Burton wrote his ''Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Medinah and Meccah'', writing that "at Mecca there is nothing theatrical, nothing that suggests the opera, but all is simple and impressive... tending, I believe, after its fashion, to good."{{rp, 179–225{{Page range too broad, date=May 2025 Although Burton was not the first non-Muslim European to undertake the Hajj, with
Ludovico di Varthema Ludovico di Varthema, also known as Barthema and Vertomannus (c. 1470 – 1517), was an Italian traveller, diarist and aristocrat known for being one of the first non-Muslim Europeans to enter Mecca as a Hajj, pilgrim. Nearly everything that is ...
first to do so in 1503, and
Johann Ludwig Burckhardt Johann Ludwig (also known as John Lewis, Jean Louis) Burckhardt (24 November 1784 – 15 October 1817) was a Swiss traveller, geographer and Orientalist. Burckhardt assumed the alias ''Sheikh Ibrahim Ibn Abdallah'' during his travels in Arabia ...
doing so in 1815,{{citation needed, date=May 2025 Burton's entry into Mecca is the most famous and the best documented of the period.{{citation needed, date=May 2025 He adopted various disguises, including that of a
Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...
, to account for any oddities in speech,{{citation needed, date=May 2025 but he still had to demonstrate an understanding of intricate Islamic traditions and a familiarity with the minutiae of Eastern manners and etiquette.{{citation needed, date=May 2025 Burton's trek to Mecca was dangerous, and his caravan was attacked by bandits (a common experience at the time).{{third party inline, date=May 2025 As he put it, although "... neither
Koran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
or
Sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...
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".{{third party inline, date=May 2025 The pilgrimage entitled him to the title of
Hajji Hajji (; sometimes spelled Hajjeh, Hadji, Haji, Alhaji, Al-Hadj, Al-Haj or El-Hajj) is an honorific title which is given to a Muslim who has successfully completed the Hajj to Mecca. Etymology ''Hajji'' is derived from the Arabic ' (), which i ...
and to wear the green
turban A turban (from Persian language, Persian دولبند‌, ''dolband''; via Middle French ''turbant'') is a type of headwear based on cloth winding. Featuring many variations, it is worn as customary headwear by people of various cultures. Commun ...
.{{rp, 179–225{{Page range too broad, date=May 2025{{third party inline, date=May 2025 While back in India, Burton sat for the examination as an Arab linguist for the EIC. The examiner was Robert Lambert Playfair, who mistrusted Burton. As academic George Percy Badger knew Arabic well, Playfair asked Badger to oversee the exam. Having been told that Burton could be vindictive, and wishing to avoid any animosity should he fail, Badger declined. Eventually, Playfair conducted the tests; despite Burton's success in living like an Arab, Playfair recommended to the committee that Burton be failed. Badger later told Burton that "After looking urton's testover, I sent them back to layfairwith a note eulogising your attainments and... remarking on the absurdity of the Bombay Committee being made to judge your proficiency inasmuch as I did not believe that any of them possessed a tithe of the knowledge of Arabic you did."{{verify source, date=May 2025


Early explorations

{{independent sources, section, date = May 2025 In May 1854, Burton travelled to
Aden Aden () is a port city located in Yemen in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Aden, positioned near the eastern approach to the Red Sea. It is situated approximately 170 km (110 mi) east of ...
in preparation for an RGS-backed expedition, which included
John Hanning Speke Captain John Hanning Speke (4 May 1827 – 15 September 1864) was an English explorer and army officer who made three exploratory expeditions to Africa. He is most associated with the search for the source of the Nile and was the first Eu ...
, to
Somaliland Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is an List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country in the Horn of Africa. It is located in the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden and bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, E ...
. The expedition lasted from 29{{SpacesOctober 1854 to 9{{SpacesFebruary 1855, with much of its time spent in
Zeila Zeila (, ), also known as Zaila or Zayla, is a historical port town in the western Awdal region of Somaliland. In the Middle Ages, the Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela identified Zeila with the Biblical location of Havilah. Most modern schola ...
, where Burton was a guest of the town's governor Sharmarke Ali Saleh. Burton, assuming the disguise of an Arab merchant "Hajji Mirza Abdullah", awaited word that the road to
Harar Harar (; Harari language, Harari: ሀረር / ; ; ; ), known historically by the indigenous as Harar-Gey or simply Gey (Harari: ጌይ, ݘٛىيْ, ''Gēy'', ), is a List of cities with defensive walls, walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is al ...
was safe. On 29 December, Burton met with Gerard Adan in the village of Sagharrah and openly proclaimed himself as a British officer with a letter for the
Emir Emir (; ' (), also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic language, Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocratic, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person po ...
of Harar. On 3 January 1855, Burton made it to Harar and was graciously met by the Emir. He stayed in the city for ten days, officially a guest of the Emir but in reality his prisoner. Burton also investigated local landmarks in Harar; according to him, "A tradition exists that with the entrance of the first
hite Hite or HITE may refer to: *HiteJinro, a South Korean brewery **Hite Brewery *Hite (surname) *Hite, California, former name of Hite Cove, California *Hite, Utah Historic Hite is a flooded ghost town at the north end of Lake Powell along the Co ...
Christian, Harar will fall." With Burton's entry, the tradition was broken.{{rp, 219f,227–264{{page range too broad, date=May 2025{{verify source, date=May 2025 The journey back was plagued by lack of supplies, and Burton wrote that he would have died of thirst had he not seen desert birds and realized they would be near water. He made it back to
Berbera Berbera (; , ) is the capital of the Sahil, Somaliland, Sahil region of Somaliland and is the main sea port of the country, located approximately 160 km from the national capital, Hargeisa. Berbera is a coastal city and was the former capital of t ...
on 31 January 1855.{{rp, 238–256{{Cite book , author=Burton, Richard , year=1856 , title=First footsteps in East Africa or, An Exploration of Harar , location = London, England , publisher=Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans , edition=1st, pages = , url=https://archive.org/details/firstfootstepsi00burtgoog/page/n511 , access-date = For a further presentation of this material at Burtoniana.org, se
this link
{{page needed, date=May 2025 Following this expedition, Burton prepared to set out in search of the source of the
Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...
, accompanied by Speke and a number of African porters and expedition guides.{{citation needed, date=May 2025 The
Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...
schooner {{ship, HCS, Mahi, 834, 6 transported them to
Berbera Berbera (; , ) is the capital of the Sahil, Somaliland, Sahil region of Somaliland and is the main sea port of the country, located approximately 160 km from the national capital, Hargeisa. Berbera is a coastal city and was the former capital of t ...
on 7 April 1855.{{citation needed, date=May 2025 While the expedition was camped near
Berbera Berbera (; , ) is the capital of the Sahil, Somaliland, Sahil region of Somaliland and is the main sea port of the country, located approximately 160 km from the national capital, Hargeisa. Berbera is a coastal city and was the former capital of t ...
, they were attacked by a group of Somali warriors from the
Isaaq The Isaaq (, , ''Banu Ishaq'') is a major Somali clans, Somali clan. It is one of the largest Somali clan families in the Horn of Africa, with a large and densely populated traditional territory. The Isaaq people claim in a traditional legend ...
clan; the British estimated the number of attackers at 200.{{citation needed, date=May 2025 In the ensuing fight, Speke was wounded in eleven places before he managed to escape, while Burton was impaled with a javelin, the point entering one cheek and exiting the other, leaving a permanent scar.{{citation needed, date=May 2025 Burton was forced to escape with the weapon still transfixing his head.{{citation needed, date=May 2025 Burton subsequently wrote that the Somalis were a "fierce and turbulent race". However, the failure of this expedition (which also resulted in the second blockade of Berbera) was viewed harshly by the British authorities, and a two-year investigation was set up to determine to what extent Burton was culpable for this disaster.{{citation needed, date=May 2025 While he was largely cleared of any blame, his career prospects were damaged.{{citation needed, date=May 2025 He described the attack in ''First Footsteps in East Africa'' (1856).{{rp, 257–264{{rp, 449–458 After recovering from his wounds in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, Burton travelled to
Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
during the
Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...
, seeking an
officer's commission An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...
. He received one from Major-General William Ferguson Beatson as the
chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...
for Beatson's Horse, an irregular Ottoman cavalry unit stationed in
Gallipoli The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...
. Burton returned to England after an incident which implicated him as the instigator of a
mutiny Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military or a crew) to oppose, change, or remove superiors or their orders. The term is commonly used for insubordination by members of the military against an officer or superior, ...
among the unit, damaging his reputation and disgracing Beatson.{{rp, 265–271{{verify source, date=May 2025


Exploring the African Great Lakes

In 1856, the Royal Geographical Society funded another expedition for Burton and Speke, "and exploration of the then utterly unknown Lake regions of Central Africa." They would travel from
Zanzibar Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...
to
Ujiji Ujiji is the oldest town in western Tanzania and is located in Kigoma-Ujiji District of Kigoma Region. Originally a Swahili settlement and then an Arab slave trading post by the mid-nineteenth century nominally under the Sultanate of Zanziba ...
along a caravan route established in 1825 by an Arab ivory and slave merchant. The Great Journey commenced on 5 June 1857 with their departure from Zanzibar, where they had stayed at the residence of Atkins Hamerton, the British consul, their caravan consisting of Baluchi mercenaries led by Ramji, 36 porters, eventually a total of 132 persons, all led by the caravan leader Said bin Salim. From the beginning, Burton and Speke were hindered by disease, malaria, fevers and other maladies, at times both having to be carried in a hammock. Pack animals died, and natives deserted, taking supplies with them. Yet, on 7 November 1857, they made it to Kazeh, and departed for Ujiji on 14 December. Speke wanted to head north, sure they would find the source of the Nile at what he later named
Victoria Nyanza Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after L ...
, but Burton persisted in heading west.{{rp, 273–297 The expedition arrived at
Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika ( ; ) is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake. It is the world's List of lakes by volume, second-largest freshwater lake by volume and the List of lakes by depth, second deepest, in both cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. ...
on 13 February 1858. Burton was awestruck by the sight of the magnificent lake, but Speke, who had been temporarily blinded, was unable to see the body of water. By this point much of their surveying equipment was lost, ruined or stolen, and they were unable to complete surveys of the area as well as they wished. Burton was again taken ill on the return journey; Speke continued exploring without him, making a journey to the north and eventually locating the great
Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropics, tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface are ...
, or Victoria Nyanza, on 3 August. Lacking supplies and proper instruments, Speke was unable to survey the area properly but was privately convinced that it was the long-sought source of the Nile. Burton's description of the journey is given in ''Lake Regions of Equatorial Africa'' (1860). Speke gave his own account in ''The Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile'' (1863).{{rp, 298–312,491–492,500 Burton and Speke made it back to Zanzibar on 4 March 1859, and left on 22 March for Aden. Speke immediately boarded the {{HMS, Furious, 1850, 6 for London, where he gave lectures, and was awarded a second expedition by the Society. Burton arrived in London on 21 May, discovering "My companion now stood forth in his new colours, an angry rival." Speke additionally published ''What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile'' (1863), while Burton's ''Zanzibar; City, Island, and Coast'' was eventually published in 1872.{{rp, 307,311–315,491–492,500 Burton then departed on a trip to the United States in April 1860, eventually making it to
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...
on 25 August. There he studied
Mormonism Mormonism is the theology and religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationism, Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. As a label, Mormonism has been applied to va ...
and met
Brigham Young Brigham Young ( ; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1847 until h ...
. Burton departed San Francisco on 15 November for the voyage back to England, where he published ''The City of the Saints and Across the Rocky Mountains to California''.{{rp, 332–339,492


Burton and Speke

{{redirect, Burton and Speke, the novel by William Harrison, Burton and Speke (novel) A prolonged public quarrel followed, damaging the reputations of both Burton and Speke. Some biographers have suggested that friends of Speke (particularly Laurence Oliphant) had initially stirred up trouble between the two. Burton's sympathizers contend that Speke resented Burton's leadership role. Tim Jeal, who has accessed Speke's personal papers, suggests that it was more likely the other way around, Burton being jealous and resentful of Speke's determination and success. "As the years went by, urtonwould neglect no opportunity to deride and undermine Speke's geographical theories and achievements". Speke had earlier proven his mettle by trekking through the mountains of
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...
, but Burton regarded him as inferior as he did not speak any Arabic or African languages. Despite his fascination with non-European cultures, some have portrayed Burton as an unabashed imperialist convinced of the historical and intellectual superiority of the white race, citing his involvement in the Anthropological Society of London, an organisation which supported
scientific racism Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscience, pseudoscientific belief that the Human, human species is divided into biologically distinct taxa called "race (human categorization), races", and that empirical evi ...
. Speke appears to have been kinder and less intrusive to the Africans they encountered and reportedly fell in love with an African woman on a later expedition. The two men travelled home separately. Speke returned to London first and presented a lecture at the
Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...
, claiming
Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropics, tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface are ...
as the source of the Nile. According to Burton, Speke broke an agreement they had made to give their first public speech together. Apart from Burton's word, there is no proof that such an agreement existed, and most modern researchers doubt that it did. Tim Jeal, evaluating the written evidence, says the odds are "heavily against Speke having made a pledge to his former leader". Speke undertook a second expedition, along with Captain James Grant and Sidi Mubarak Bombay, to prove that Lake Victoria was the true source of the Nile. Speke, in light of the issues he was having with Burton, had Grant sign a statement saying, among other things, "I renounce all my rights to publishing ... my own account f the expeditionuntil approved of by Captain Speke or he Royal Geographical Society. On 16 September 1864, Burton and Speke were scheduled to debate the source of the Nile at a meeting of the
British Association for the Advancement of Science The British Science Association (BSA) is a Charitable organization, charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Scienc ...
. On the day before the debate, Burton and Speke sat near each other in the lecture hall. According to Burton's wife, Speke stood up, said "I can't stand this any longer," and abruptly left the hall. That afternoon Speke went hunting on the nearby estate of a relative. He was discovered lying near a stone wall, felled by a fatal gunshot wound from his hunting shotgun. Burton learned of Speke's death the following day while waiting for their debate to begin. A jury ruled Speke's death an accident. An obituary surmised that Speke, while climbing over the wall, had carelessly pulled the gun after himself with the muzzle pointing at his chest and shot himself. Alexander Maitland, Speke's only biographer, concurs.


Diplomatic service and scholarship (1861–1890)

On 22 January 1861, Burton and Isabel Arundel married in a quiet Catholic ceremony, although he did not adopt the Catholic faith at this time. Shortly after this, the couple were forced to spend some time apart when he formally entered the
Diplomatic Service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtain diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to o ...
as
consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...
on the island of Fernando Po, now
Bioko Bioko (; ; ; historically known as Fernando Pó, ) is an island of Equatorial Guinea. It is located south of the coast of Cameroon, and northwest of the northernmost part of mainland Equatorial Guinea. Malabo, on the north coast of the is ...
in Equatorial Guinea. This was not a prestigious appointment; because the climate was considered extremely unhealthy for Europeans, Isabel could not accompany him. Burton spent much of this time exploring the coast of West Africa, documenting his findings in ''Abeokuta and The Cameroons Mountains: An Exploration'' (1863), and ''A Mission to Gelele, King of Dahome'' (1864). He described some of his experiences, including a trip up the
Congo River The Congo River, formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second-longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the third-largest river in the world list of rivers by discharge, by discharge volume, following the Amazon Ri ...
to the Yellala Falls and beyond, in his 1876 book ''Two trips to gorilla land and the cataracts of the Congo''.{{rp, 349–381,492–493 The couple were reunited in 1865 when Burton was transferred to Santos in Brazil. Once there, Burton travelled through Brazil's central highlands, canoeing down the
São Francisco River The São Francisco River (, ) is a large Rivers of Brazil, river in Brazil. With a length of , it is the longest river that runs entirely in Brazilian territory, and the fourth longest in South America and overall in Brazil (after the Amazon R ...
from its source to the falls of
Paulo Afonso Paulo Afonso is a city in Bahia, Brazil. It was founded in 1958. The city is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Paulo Afonso. The city is served by Paulo Afonso Airport. The municipality contains part of the Raso da Catarina ecoregi ...
. He documented his experiences in ''The Highlands of Brazil'' (1869).{{rp, 387=395,492 In 1868 and 1869, he made two visits to the war zone of the
Paraguayan War The Paraguayan War (, , ), also known as the War of the Triple Alliance (, , ), was a South American war that lasted from 1864 to 1870. It was fought between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, the Empire of Brazil, and Uruguay. It wa ...
, which he described in his ''Letters from the Battlefields of Paraguay'' (1870). In 1868, he was appointed as the British consul in
Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...
, an ideal post for someone with Burton's knowledge of the region and customs. According to Ed Rice, "England wanted to know what was going on in the
Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...
," another chapter in
The Great Game The Great Game was a rivalry between the 19th-century British and Russian empires over influence in Central Asia, primarily in Afghanistan, Persia, and Tibet. The two colonial empires used military interventions and diplomatic negotiations t ...
. Yet, the Turkish governor Mohammed Rashid 'Ali Pasha feared anti-Turkish activities, and was opposed to Burton's assignment.{{rp, 395–399,402,409 In Damascus, Burton made friends with Abdelkader al-Jazairi, while Isabel befriended Jane Digby, calling her "my most intimate friend." Burton also met Charles F. Tyrwhitt-Drake and
Edward Henry Palmer Edward Henry Palmer (7 August 184010 August 1882), known as E. H. Palmer, was an England, English oriental studies, orientalist and explorer. Biography Youth and education Palmer was born in Green Street, Cambridge, the son of a private scho ...
, collaborating with Drake in writing ''Unexplored Syria'' (1872).{{rp, 402–410,492 However, the area was in some turmoil at the time, with considerable tensions between the Christian, Jewish and Muslim populations. Burton did his best to keep the peace and resolve the situation, but this sometimes led him into trouble. On one occasion, he claims to have escaped an attack by hundreds of armed horsemen and camel riders sent by Mohammed Rashid Pasha, the Governor of Syria. He wrote, "I have never been so flattered in my life than to think it would take three hundred men to kill me." Burton eventually suffered the enmity of the Greek Christian and Jewish communities. Then, his involvement with the Sházlis, a Sufi Muslim order among whom was a group that Burton called "Secret Christians longing for baptism", which Isabel called "his ruin." He was recalled in August 1871, prompting him to send a telegram to Isabel: "I am recalled. Pay, pack, and follow at convenience."{{rp, 412–415 Burton was reassigned in 1872 to the port city of
Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...
in
Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
. A "broken man", Burton was never particularly content with this post, but it required little work, was far less dangerous than Damascus (as well as less exciting), and allowed him the freedom to write and travel. In 1863, Burton co-founded the Anthropological Society of London with Dr.
James Hunt James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993) was a British racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "the Shunt", Hunt won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with McLaren, and wo ...
. In Burton's own words, the main aim of the society (through the publication of the periodical ''Anthropologia'') was "to supply travellers with an organ that would rescue their observations from the outer darkness of manuscript and print their curious information on social and sexual matters". On 13 February 1886, Burton was appointed a Knight Commander of the
Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...
(KCMG) by
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
. He wrote a number of travel books in this period that were not particularly well received. His best-known contributions to literature were those considered risqué or even pornographic at the time, which were published under the auspices of the Kama Shastra society. These books include ''The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana'' (1883) (popularly known as the
Kama Sutra The ''Kama Sutra'' (; , , ; ) is an ancient Indian Hindu Sanskrit text on sexuality, eroticism and emotional fulfillment. Attributed to Vātsyāyana, the ''Kamasutra'' is neither exclusively nor predominantly a sex manual on sex positions ...
), ''
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night ''The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night'' (1888), subtitled ''A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights Entertainments'', is the only complete English language translation of ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (the ''Arabian Nig ...
'' (1885) (popularly known as
The Arabian Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights'', from the first English-language edition () ...
), ''
The Perfumed Garden ''The Perfumed Garden of Sensual Delight'' ( ''Al-rawḍ al-ʿāṭir fī nuzhaẗ al-ḫāṭir''), also known as the Arabic Kama Sutra, is a fifteenth-century Arabic sex manual and work of erotic literature by Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Nefza ...
of the Shaykh Nefzawi'' (1886) and ''The Supplemental Nights to the Thousand Nights and a Night'' (seventeen volumes 1886–98). Published in this period but composed on his return journey from Mecca, ''
The Kasidah ''The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî'' (1880) is a long English language poem written by "Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî", a pseudonym of the true author, Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890), a well-known British Arabist and explorer. In a note t ...
'' has been cited as evidence of Burton's status as a Bektashi
Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...
. Deliberately presented by Burton as a translation, the poem and his notes and commentary on it contain layers of Sufic meaning that seem to have been designed to project Sufi teaching in the West. ''"Do what thy manhood bids thee do/ from none but self expect applause;/ He noblest lives and noblest dies/ who makes and keeps his self-made laws"'' is ''The Kasidahs most-quoted passage. As well as references to many themes from Classical Western myths, the poem contains many laments that are accented with fleeting
imagery Imagery is visual symbolism, or figurative language that evokes a mental image or other kinds of sense impressions, especially in a literary work, but also in other activities such as. Imagery in literature can also be instrumental in conveying ...
such as repeated comparisons to ''"the tinkling of the Camel bell"'' that becomes inaudible as the animal vanishes in the darkness of the desert. Other works of note include a collection of Hindu tales, ''Vikram and the Vampire'' (1870); and his uncompleted history of
swordsmanship Swordsmanship or sword fighting refers to the skills and techniques used in combat and training with any type of sword. The term is modern, and as such was mainly used to refer to smallsword fencing, but by extension it can also be applied to an ...
, ''The Book of the Sword'' (1884). He also translated ''
The Lusiads ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...
'', the Portuguese national epic by
Luís de Camões Luís Vaz de Camões (; or 1525 – 10 June 1580), sometimes rendered in English as Camoens or Camoëns ( ), is considered Portugal's and the Portuguese language's greatest poet. His mastery of verse has been compared to that of William Shakes ...
, in 1880 and, the next year, wrote a sympathetic biography of the poet and adventurer. The book ''The Jew, the Gipsy and el Islam'' was published posthumously in 1898 and was controversial for its criticism of Jews and for its assertion of the existence of Jewish human sacrifices. Burton's investigations into this had provoked hostility from the Jews of Damascus. The manuscript of the book included an appendix discussing the topic in more detail, but by the decision of his widow, it was not included in the book when published.{{Cite web, last=Paxman, first=Jeremy, date=2015-05-01, title=Richard Burton, Victorian explorer, url=https://www.ft.com/content/357140e4-eeaf-11e4-a5cd-00144feab7de , archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/357140e4-eeaf-11e4-a5cd-00144feab7de , archive-date=10 December 2022 , url-access=subscription, access-date=2021-02-12, website=www.ft.com, language=en-GB


Death

Burton died in
Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...
early on the morning of 20 October 1890 of a
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
. His wife Isabel persuaded a priest to perform the last rites, although Burton was not a Catholic, and this action later caused a rift between Isabel and some of Burton's friends. It has been suggested that the death occurred very late on 19{{NbspOctober and that Burton was already dead by the time the last rites were administered. On his religious views, Burton called himself an atheist, stating he was raised in the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
, which he said was "officially ischurch". Isabel never recovered from the loss. After his death, she burned many of her husband's papers, including journals and a planned new translation of ''
The Perfumed Garden ''The Perfumed Garden of Sensual Delight'' ( ''Al-rawḍ al-ʿāṭir fī nuzhaẗ al-ḫāṭir''), also known as the Arabic Kama Sutra, is a fifteenth-century Arabic sex manual and work of erotic literature by Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Nefza ...
'' to be called ''The Scented Garden'', for which she had been offered six thousand guineas and which she regarded as his "magnum opus". She believed she was acting to protect her husband's reputation, and that she had been instructed to burn the manuscript of ''The Scented Garden'' by his spirit, but her actions were controversial. However, a substantial quantity of his written materials have survived, and are held by the
Huntington Library The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, known as The Huntington, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington and Arabella Huntington in San Marino, California, United State ...
in
San Marino, California San Marino is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It was incorporated on April 25, 1913. At the 2020 United States census the population was 12,513, a decline from the 2010 United States census. History Origin of name Th ...
, including 21 boxes of his manuscripts, 24 boxes of correspondence, and other material. Isabel wrote a biography in praise of her husband. The couple are buried in a tomb in the shape of a Bedouin tent, designed by Isabel,{{cite book , title=The Buildings of England – London 2: South , publisher=
Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...
, last1=Cherry, B. , last2=Pevsner, N. , year=1983 , location=London , page=513 , isbn=978-0140710472, title-link=The Buildings of England , author2-link=Nikolaus Pevsner
in the cemetery of St Mary Magdalen Roman Catholic Church Mortlake in southwest London. The coffins of Sir Richard and Lady Burton can be seen through a window at the rear of the tent, which can be accessed via a short fixed ladder. Next to the
lady chapel A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British English, British term for a chapel dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church (building), church. The chapels are also known as a Mary chape ...
in the church, there is a memorial
stained-glass window Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...
to Burton, also erected by Isabel; it depicts Burton as a medieval knight.{{cite book , author1=Boyes, Valerie , author2=Wintersinger, Natascha , name-list-style=amp , publisher= Museum of Richmond , title =Encountering the Uncharted and Back – Three Explorers: Ball, Vancouver and Burton, pages=9–10 , date=2014 Burton's personal effects and a collection of paintings, photographs and objects relating to him are in the Burton Collection at Orleans House Gallery,
Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...
.{{cite web , url=https://artuk.org/search/search/search/keyword:richmond-upon-thames-borough-art-collection- , title=More about Richmond upon Thames Borough Art Collection , work=
Art UK Art UK is a cultural, education charity in the United Kingdom, previously known as the Public Catalogue Foundation. Since 2003, it has digitised more than 300,000 paintings, sculptures and other artworks by more than 53,700 artists. It was found ...
, access-date=15 December 2012 , author=De Novellis, Mark , df=dmy-all
Among these is a small quartz stone from
Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...
, inscribed in supposed
Kufic The Kufic script () is a style of Arabic script, that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration, and it has since become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts ...
script, which has thus far resisted decipherment by experts.{{cite web , title=What am I? , url=https://www.orleanshousegallery.org/news/2018/10/what-am-i/ , website=Orleans House Gallery , access-date=8 January 2023 , date=8 October 2018{{cite web , last1=Randall , first1=T.K. , title=Ancient talisman inscription remains a mystery , url=https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/322570/ancient-talisman-inscription-remains-a-mystery , website=Unexplained mysteries: Archaeology & History , access-date=8 January 2023 , date=October 20, 2018


Kama Shastra Society

Burton had long had an interest in sexuality and some erotic literature. However, the
Obscene Publications Act 1857 The Obscene Publications Act 1857 ( 20 & 21 Vict. c. 83), also known as Lord Campbell's Act or Campbell's Act, was a piece of legislation in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland dealing with obscenity. For the first time, it made the sa ...
had resulted in many jail sentences for publishers, with prosecutions being brought by the
Society for the Suppression of Vice The Society for the Suppression of Vice, formerly the Proclamation Society Against Vice and Immorality, or simply Proclamation Society, was a 19th-century English society dedicated to promoting public morality. It was established in 1802, based on ...
. Burton referred to the society and those who shared its views as ''
Mrs Grundy Mrs Grundy is a figurative name for an extremely conventional or priggish person, a personification of the tyranny of conventional propriety. A tendency to be overly fearful of what others might think is sometimes referred to as grundyism. Mrs ...
''. A way around this was the private circulation of books among the members of a society. For this reason Burton, together with
Forster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot Forster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot (21 May 1833 – 25 May 1901) was a notable British Orientalist and translator. Biography Arbuthnot's early career was spent as a civil servant in India; his last post was as Collector for the Bombay government. ...
, created the Kama Shastra Society to print and circulate books that would be illegal to publish in public.Ben Grant
"Translating/'The' “Kama Sutra”"
''Third World Quarterly'', Vol. 26, No. 3, Connecting Cultures (2005), 509–516
One of the most celebrated of all his books is his translation of ''
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night ''The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night'' (1888), subtitled ''A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights Entertainments'', is the only complete English language translation of ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (the ''Arabian Nig ...
'' (commonly called ''
The Arabian Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights'', from the first English-language edition () ...
'' in English after early translations of
Antoine Galland Antoine Galland (; 4 April 1646 – 17 February 1715) was a French orientalist and archaeologist, most famous as the first European translator of ''One Thousand and One Nights'', which he called '' Les mille et une nuits''. His version of the ta ...
's French version) in ten volumes (1885), with seven further volumes being added later. The volumes were printed by the Kama Shastra Society in a subscribers-only edition of one thousand with a guarantee that there would never be a larger printing of the books in this form. The stories collected were often sexual in content and were considered pornography at the time of publication. In particular, the ''Terminal Essay'' in volume 10 of the ''Nights'' contained a 14,000-word essay entitled "
Pederasty Pederasty or paederasty () is a sexual relationship between an adult man and an adolescent boy. It was a socially acknowledged practice in Ancient Greece and Rome and elsewhere in the world, such as Pre-Meiji Japan. In most countries today, ...
" (Volume 10, section IV, D), at the time a synonym for homosexuality (as it still is, in modern French). This was and remained for many years the longest and most explicit discussion of homosexuality in any language. Burton speculated that male homosexuality was prevalent in an area of the southern latitudes named by him the "
Sotadic zone Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, KCMG, FRGS, (19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, army officer, orientalist writer and scholar. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa and South America, as well ...
". Perhaps Burton's best-known book is his translation of '' The Kama Sutra''. It is untrue that he was the translator since the original manuscript was in ancient
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
, which he could not read. However, he collaborated with
Forster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot Forster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot (21 May 1833 – 25 May 1901) was a notable British Orientalist and translator. Biography Arbuthnot's early career was spent as a civil servant in India; his last post was as Collector for the Bombay government. ...
on the work and provided translations from other manuscripts of later translations. The Kama Shastra Society first printed the book in 1883 and numerous editions of the Burton translation are in print to this day. His English translation from a French edition of the Arabic erotic guide ''
The Perfumed Garden ''The Perfumed Garden of Sensual Delight'' ( ''Al-rawḍ al-ʿāṭir fī nuzhaẗ al-ḫāṭir''), also known as the Arabic Kama Sutra, is a fifteenth-century Arabic sex manual and work of erotic literature by Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Nefza ...
'' was printed as ''The Perfumed Garden of the Cheikh Nefzaoui: A Manual of Arabian Erotology'' (1886). After Burton's death,
Isabel Isabel is a female name of Iberian origin. Isabelle is a name that is similar, but it is of French origin. It originates as the medieval Spanish form of ''Elizabeth (given name), Elisabeth'' (ultimately Hebrew ''Elisheba''). Arising in the 12th c ...
burnt many of his papers, including a manuscript of a subsequent translation, '' The Scented Garden'', containing the final chapter of the work, on
pederasty Pederasty or paederasty () is a sexual relationship between an adult man and an adolescent boy. It was a socially acknowledged practice in Ancient Greece and Rome and elsewhere in the world, such as Pre-Meiji Japan. In most countries today, ...
. Burton all along intended for this translation to be published after his death, to provide an income for his widow. {{Quote box , title = Burton's languages , quote = By the end of his life, Burton had mastered at least 26 languages, or possibly up to 40 depending on how dialects are classified. 1. English
2. French
3.
Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...

:a. Gascon/
Béarnese dialect Béarnese (Endonym and exonym, endonym or ; ) is the variety of Gascon dialect, Gascon spoken in Béarn. The usage of a specific name for Béarnese lies in the history of Béarn, Viscounty of Béarn, a viscounty that became a sovereign principa ...
4. Italian :a. Neapolitan Italian 5.
Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnic groups * Romani people, or Roma, an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin ** Romani language, an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities ** Romanichal, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom * Romanians (Romanian ...

6.
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

7.
Classical Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archa ...

8. Saraiki
9. Hindustani
:a.
Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...
10. Sindhi
11.
Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

12.
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

13. Persian (Farsi)
14. Pushtu
15.
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

16. Portuguese
17. Spanish
18. German
19. Icelandic
20. Swahili
21.
Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

22. Fan
23. Yoruba
:a. Egba 24. Asante
25.
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

26.
Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

27. Many other West African & Indian dialects , width = 20% , align = left


Scandals

Burton's writings are unusually open and frank about his interest in sex and
sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...
. His travel writing is often full of details about the sexual lives of the inhabitants of areas he travelled through. Burton's interest in sexuality led him to make measurements of the lengths of the penises of male inhabitants of various regions, which he includes in his travel books. He also describes sexual techniques common in the regions he visited, often hinting that he had participated, hence breaking both sexual and racial
taboo A taboo is a social group's ban, prohibition or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, offensive, sacred or allowed only for certain people.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
s of his day. Many people at the time considered the Kama Shastra Society and the books it published scandalous. Biographers disagree on whether or not Burton ever experienced homosexual sex (he never directly acknowledges it in his writing). Rumours began in his army days when
Charles James Napier General Sir Charles James Napier, ( ; 10 August 178229 August 1853) was an officer and veteran of the British Army's Peninsular and 1812 campaigns, and later a major general of the Bombay Army, during which period he led the British military co ...
requested that Burton go undercover to investigate a male
brothel A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...
reputed to be frequented by British soldiers. It has been suggested that Burton's detailed report on the workings of the brothel led some to believe he had been a customer. There is no documentary evidence that such a report was written or submitted, nor that Napier ordered such research by Burton, and it has been argued that this is one of Burton's embellishments. A story that haunted Burton up to his death (recounted in some of his obituaries) was that, during his journey to Mecca disguised as a Muslim, he came close to being discovered one night when he lifted his robe to urinate rather than squatting as an Arab would. It was said that he was seen by an Arab and, to avoid exposure, killed him. Burton denied this, pointing out that killing the boy would almost certainly have led to his being discovered as an impostor. Burton became so tired of denying this accusation that he took to baiting his accusers, although he was said to enjoy the notoriety and even once laughingly claimed to have done it.{{cite book, last=Rice, first=Edward, title=Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton: A Biography, year=2001, orig-year=1990, publisher=Da Capo Press, isbn=978-0306810282, pages=136–137 A doctor once asked him: "How do you feel when you have killed a man?", Burton retorted: "Quite jolly, what about you?". When asked by a priest about the same incident Burton is said to have replied: "Sir, I'm proud to say I have committed every sin in the
Decalogue The Ten Commandments (), or the Decalogue (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , ), are religious and ethical directives, structured as a covenant document, that, according to the Hebrew Bible, were given by YHWH to Moses. The text of the Ten C ...
."
Stanley Lane-Poole Stanley Edward Lane-Poole (18 December 1854 – 29 December 1931) was a British orientalist and archaeologist. Biography Lane Poole was Born in London, England, the eldest of three children (two sons and a daughter) of Edward Stanley Poole (1830 ...
, a Burton detractor, reported that Burton "confessed rather shamefacedly that he had never killed anybody at any time." These allegations coupled with Burton's often irascible nature were said to have harmed his career and may explain why he was not promoted further, either in army life or in the diplomatic service. As an obituary described: "...he was ill fitted to run in official harness, and he had a Byronic love of shocking people, of telling tales against himself that had no foundation in fact."
Ouida Maria Louise Ramé (1 January 1839 – 25 January 1908), going by the name Marie Louise de la Ramée and known by the pseudonym Ouida ( ), was an English novelist. Ouida wrote more than 40 novels, as well as short stories, children's boo ...
reported: "Men at the FO oreign Officenbsp;... used to hint dark horrors about Burton, and certainly justly or unjustly he was disliked, feared and suspected ... not for what he had done, but for what he was believed capable of doing."


Sotadic zone

Burton theorized about the existence of a "Sotadic zone" in the closing essay of his English translation of ''
The Arabian Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights'', from the first English-language edition () ...
'' (1885–1886).{{cite book , last=Reyes , first=Raquel A. G. , editor1-last=Reyes , editor1-first=Raquel A. G. , editor2-last=Clarence-Smith , editor2-first=William G. , year=2012 , title=Sexual Diversity in Asia, c. 600–1950 , chapter=Introduction , chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uP57zh13BqQC&pg=PA1 , location=
Abingdon, Oxfordshire Abingdon-on-Thames ( ), commonly known as Abingdon, is a historic market town and civil parish on the River Thames in the Vale of the White Horse district of Oxfordshire, England. The historic county town of Berkshire, the area was occupied f ...
, publisher=
Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...
, series=Routledge contemporary Asia series , volume=37 , pages=1–3 , isbn=978-0-415-60059-0
{{cite journal, last=Markwell, first=Kevin, year=2008, title=The Lure of the "Sotadic Zone", url=https://glreview.org/article/article-678/, journal=
The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide ''The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide'' (formerly ''The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review'') is a bimonthly, nationally distributed magazine of history, culture, and politics for LGBT people and their allies who are interested in the gamut of social, ...
, volume=15, issue=2 Excerpted and reprinted with permission from {{cite book, last1=Waitt, first1=Gordon, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9v84NxERpjQC, title=Gay Tourism: Culture and Context, last2=Markwell, first2=Kevin, publisher=
Haworth Press Haworth Press was a publisher of scholarly, academic and trade books, and approximately 200 peer-reviewed academic journals. It was founded in 1978 by the publishing industry executives Bill Cohen and Patrick Mcloughlin. The name was taken from ...
, year=2006, isbn=978-0-7890-1602-7, location=New York City
He asserted that there exists a geographic-climatic zone in which
sodomy Sodomy (), also called buggery in British English, principally refers to either anal sex (but occasionally also oral sex) between people, or any Human sexual activity, sexual activity between a human and another animal (Zoophilia, bestiality). I ...
and
pederasty Pederasty or paederasty () is a sexual relationship between an adult man and an adolescent boy. It was a socially acknowledged practice in Ancient Greece and Rome and elsewhere in the world, such as Pre-Meiji Japan. In most countries today, ...
(sexual intimacy between older men and young pubescent/adolescent boys) are
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
, prevalent, and celebrated among the indigenous inhabitants and within their cultures. The name derives from
Sotades Sotades (; 3rd century BC) was an Ancient Greek poet. Sotades was born in Maroneia, either the one in Thrace, or in Crete. He lived in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 BC). The city was at that time a remarkabl ...
, a 3rd-century BC
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...
who was the chief representative of a group of Ancient Greek writers of obscene, and sometimes
pederastic Pederasty or paederasty () is a sexual relationship between an adult man and an adolescent boy. It was a socially acknowledged practice in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, Rome and elsewhere in the world, such as Homosexuality in Japan#Pre-Mei ...
, satirical poetry; these homoerotic verses are preserved in the ''
Greek Anthology The ''Greek Anthology'' () is a collection of poems, mostly epigrams, that span the Classical Greece, Classical and Byzantine periods of Greek literature. Most of the material of the ''Greek Anthology'' comes from two manuscripts, the ''Palatine ...
'', a collection of poems spanning the Classical and
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...
periods of
Greek literature Greek literature () dates back from the ancient Greek literature, beginning in 800 BC, to the modern Greek literature of today. Ancient Greek literature was written in an Ancient Greek dialect, literature ranges from the oldest surviving wri ...
. Burton first advanced his Sotadic zone concept in the "Terminal Essay", contained in Volume 10 of his English translation of ''
The Arabian Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights'', from the first English-language edition () ...
'', which he called ''
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night ''The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night'' (1888), subtitled ''A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights Entertainments'', is the only complete English language translation of ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (the ''Arabian Nig ...
'', published in England in 1886.


In popular culture


Fiction

{{Conservatism UK *In the novel ''
Nostromo ''Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard'' is a 1904 novel by Joseph Conrad, set in the fictitious South American republic of "Costaguana". It was originally published serially in monthly instalments of '' T.P.'s Weekly''. In 1998, the Modern Libra ...
'' (1904) by
Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the Eng ...
, the character Martin Decoud is believed to be partly modelled after Don Juan Decoud,{{Citation needed, date=September 2024 the editor of the newspaper ''El Liberal'', described in Burton’s ''Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay'' (1870). * In the short story " The Aleph" (1945) by Argentine writer
Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...
, a manuscript by Burton is discovered in a library. The manuscript contains a description of a mirror in which the whole universe is reflected. * The
Riverworld The Riverworld series consists of five science fiction novels (1971–1983) by American author Philip José Farmer (1918–2009). The Riverworld is an artificial, or heavily terraformed, planet where all humans (and pre-humans) who ever lived t ...
series of science fiction novels (1971–83) by
Philip José Farmer Philip José Farmer (January 26, 1918 – February 25, 2009) was an American author known for his science fiction and fantasy fiction, fantasy novels and short story, short stories. Obituary. Farmer is best known for two sequences of novels, t ...
has a fictional and resurrected Burton as a primary character. * William Harrison's ''Burton and Speke'' is a 1984 novel about the two friends/rivals. * ''The World Is Made of Glass: A Novel'' by
Morris West Morris Langlo West (26 April 19169 October 1999) was an Australian novelist and playwright, best known for his novels ''The Devil's Advocate (West novel), The Devil's Advocate'' (1959), ''The Shoes of the Fisherman (novel), The Shoes of the Fi ...
tells the story of Magda Liliane Kardoss von Gamsfeld in consultation with Carl Gustav Jung; Burton is mentioned on pp. 254–7 and again on p. 392. * ''Der Weltensammler'' by the Bulgarian-German writer Iliya Troyanov is a fictional reconstruction of three periods of Burton's life, focusing on his time in India, his pilgrimage to Medina and Mecca, and his explorations with Speke. * Burton is the main character in the "Burton and Swinburne"
steampunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and Applied arts, aesthetics inspired by, but not limited to, 19th-century Industrial Revolution, industrial steam engine, steam-powered machinery. Steampun ...
series by Mark Hodder (2010–2015): '' The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack''; ''The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man''; ''Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon''; ''The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi''; ''The Return of the Discontinued Man''; and ''The Rise of the Automated Aristocrats''. These novels depict an alternate world where Queen Victoria was killed early in her reign due to the inadvertent actions of a time-traveller acting as
Spring-Heeled Jack Spring-heeled Jack was an entity in English folklore of the Victorian era. The first claimed sighting of Spring-heeled Jack was in 1837. Later sightings were reported all over the United Kingdom and were especially prevalent in suburban Lond ...
, with a complex constitutional revision making Albert King in her place. * Though not one of the primary characters in the series, Burton plays an important historical role in the ''Area 51'' series of books by Bob Mayer (written under the pen name Robert Doherty). * Burton and his partner Speke are recurrently mentioned in one of
Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
's '' Voyages Extraordinaires'', the 1863 novel ''
Five Weeks in a Balloon ''Five Weeks in a Balloon, or, A Journey of Discovery by Three Englishmen in Africa'' () is an adventure novel by Jules Verne, published in 1863. It is the first novel in which he perfected the "ingredients" of his later work, skillfully mixing ...
'', as the voyages of Kennedy and Ferguson are attempting to link their expeditions with those of
Heinrich Barth Johann Heinrich Barth (; ; 16 February 1821 – 25 November 1865) was a German explorer of Africa and scholar. Barth is thought to be one of the greatest of the European explorers of Africa, as his scholarly preparation, ability to speak and wri ...
in west Africa. * In the novel ''The Bookman's Promise'' (2004) by John Dunning, the protagonist buys a signed copy of a rare Burton book, and from there Burton and his work are major elements of the story. A section of the novel also fictionalizes a portion of Burton's life in the form of recollections of one of the characters. * Burton and Speke appear as characters in the historical novel ''The Romantic'' by William Boyd (2022).


Drama

* In the BBC mini-series '' The Search for the Nile'' (1971), Burton is portrayed by actor
Kenneth Haigh Kenneth William Michael Haigh (25 March 1931 – 4 February 2018) was an English actor. He first came to public recognition for playing the role of Jimmy Porter in the play '' Look Back in Anger'' in 1956 opposite Mary Ure in London's West End ...
. * The film '' Mountains of the Moon'' (1990) (starring
Patrick Bergin Patrick Connolly Bergin (born 4 February 1951) is an Irish actor and singer. In 1991, he starred opposite Julia Roberts in '' Sleeping with the Enemy'' and played the title character in ''Robin Hood''. His other roles include terrorist Kevin O' ...
as Burton) relates the story of the Burton–Speke exploration and subsequent controversy over the source of the Nile. The script was based on Harrison's novel. * In the Canadian film ''
Zero Patience ''Zero Patience'' is a 1993 Canadian musical film written and directed by John Greyson. The film examines and refutes the urban legend of the alleged introduction of HIV to North America by a single individual, Gaëtan Dugas. Dugas, better known ...
'' (1993), Burton is portrayed by John Robinson as having had "an unfortunate encounter" with the
Fountain of Youth The Fountain of Youth is a mythical Spring (hydrology), spring which supposedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks or bathes in its waters. Tales of such a fountain have been recounted around the world for thousands of years, appearing in t ...
and living in present-day
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
. Upon discovering the ghost of the famous
Patient Zero The index case or patient zero is the first documented patient in a disease epidemic within a population, or the first documented patient included in an epidemiological study. It can also refer to the first case of a condition or syndrome (not ...
, Burton attempts to exhibit the finding at his Hall of Contagion at the Museum of Natural History. * In the American TV show '' The Sentinel'', a monograph by Sir Richard Francis Burton is found by one of the main characters, Blair Sandburg, and is the origin of his concept of Sentinels and their roles in their respective tribes.


Film documentaries

* In ''The Victorian Sex Explorer'', Rupert Everett documents Burton's travels. Part of the Channel Four (UK) 'Victorian Passions' season. First Broadcast on 9 June 2008.


Chronology

{{hidden begin, ta1=center, border=1px #aaa solid, expanded=y, style=width:810px, title=Timeline of Richard Francis Burton's life (1821–1890) ImageSize = width:800 height:800 PlotArea = left:40 right:10 top:10 bottom:10 DateFormat = yyyy TimeAxis = orientation:vertical order:reverse format:yyyy Period = from:1820 till:1890 AlignBars = early ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1820 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1820 Colors = id: gray value:gray(0.7) id: lightsteelblue value:rgb(0.418, 0.609, 0.800) id: during value:gray(0.6) Define $dx = 20 # shift text to right side of bar Define $right = align: left shift:(25,-5) PlotData = bar: event width:20 color: gray shift:($dx,-4) from: start till:end color: lightsteelblue mark:(line,white) at:1821 text:"1821: Born in Torquay, Devon, United Kingdom." at:1840 text:"1840: Enrolls in Trinity College, Oxford." at:1842 text:"1842: Expelled from Oxford and joins the army." at:1851 text:"1851: Meets Isabel Burton (then Isabel Arundell), his future wife. Publishes first book." at:1853 text:"1853: Travels to Meccah and Medina disguised as a pilgrim." at:1854 text:"1854: Meets John Hanning Speke." at:1855 text:"1855: Burton and Speke attacked and wounded while exploring Berbera." at:1856 text:"1856: Burton serves in the army in the Crimean War and becomes engaged to Isabel Arundell." at:1858 text:"1858: Burton and Speke explore the Central African lakes, locating Lake Tanganyika (Speke locates Lake Victoria)." at:1860 text:"1860: Travels to America, visiting Salt Lake City and California." at:1861 text:"1861: Marries Isabel Burton and becomes consul to Fernando Po (Bioko)." at:1865 text:"1865: Appointed consul to Santos." at:1869 text:"1869: Appointed consul to Damascus." at:1873 text:"1873: Appointed consul to Trieste." at:1883 text:"1883: Translates the Kama Sutra with Forster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot." at:1884 text:"1884: Translates The Arabian Nights." at:1886 text:"1886: Awarded KCMG (Knight Commander of St Michael and St George)." at:1890 text:"1890: Dies of a heart attack in Trieste on October 19 or 20." width:30 fontsize:S textcolor:black from:1826 till:1839 color: gray $right text:"1826–1839: Burton family travel through Europe, spending time in France and Italy." from:1842 till:1849 color: gray $right text:"1842–1849: Serves in the army in India." TextData = tabs:(25-left) pos:(100,710) fontsize:6 text:" " {{hidden end


Works and correspondence

{{Main, Richard Francis Burton bibliography Burton published over 40 books and countless articles, monographs and letters. A great number of his journal and magazine pieces have never been catalogued. Over 200 of these have been collected in PDF facsimile format at burtoniana.org.{{cite web, url=http://www.burtoniana.org/minor/minor_works.htm, title=Shorter Works by Richard Francis Burton Brief selections from a variety of Burton's writings are available in Frank McLynn's ''Of No Country: An Anthology of Richard Burton'' (1990; New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City that has published several notable American authors, including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjori ...
).


See also

* Selim Aga * Mausoleum of Sir Richard and Lady Burton * List of polyglots


References


Citations

{{Reflist


Sources

{{refbegin, 2 * {{cite book , author=Cust, R.N. , year=1895 , location=London , publisher=Trübner & Co. , chapter=Sir Richard Burton , chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_RhYYAAAAYAAJ#page/n97/mode/2up , title=Linguistic and oriental essays: written from the year 1861 to 1895 , pages=80–82 * {{cite book , last= Brodie , first= Fawn M., author-link1= Fawn M. Brodie , title= The Devil Drives: A Life of Sir Richard Burton , publisher= W. W. Norton & Company , location= New York , year= 1967 , isbn= 978-0-907871-23-1 , url= https://archive.org/details/devildriveslifeo0000brod , url-access=registration * {{cite book, ref=Burton1893, last=Burton, first=Isabel, author-link=Isabel Burton, title=The Life of Captain Sir Richard F. Burton KCMG, FRGS, publisher=
Chapman and Hall Chapman & Hall is an imprint owned by CRC Press, originally founded as a British publishing house in London in the first half of the 19th century by Edward Chapman and William Hall. Chapman & Hall were publishers for Charles Dickens (from 1840 ...
, location=London, year=1893, volume=1 and 2, url=http://burtoniana.org/biography/1893-Isabel-Life/index.html * {{cite book, ref=Carnochan, last=Carnochan, first=W.B., title=The Sad Story of Burton, Speke, and the Nile; or, Was John Hanning Speke a Cad: Looking at the Evidence, year=2006, publisher=Stanford University Press, location=Stanford, isbn=978-0-8047-5325-8, page=160, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KJeNMUHZSpIC&q=The+Sad+Story+of+Burton,+Speke,+and+the+Nile * {{cite book, last=Edwardes, first=Allen, author-link=Allen Edwardes, title=Death Rides a Camel, publisher=The Julian Press, location=New York, year=1963 * {{cite book, last=Farwell, first=Byron, author-link=Byron Farwell, title=Burton: A Biography of Sir Richard Francis Burton, publisher=
Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...
, location=New York, year=1963, isbn=978-0-14-012068-4 * {{cite book, ref=Godsall, last=Godsall, first=Jon R, title=The Tangled Web – A life of Sir Richard Burton, publisher=Matador Books, location=London, year=2008, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=scwb2eRzsFYC, isbn=978-1906510-428 * Hastings, Michael (1978), ''Sir Richard Burton. A Biography'', Hodder & Stoughton, London. * Hitchman, Francis (1887), ''Richard F. Burton, K.C.M.G.: His Early, Private and Public Life with an Account of his Travels and Explorations'', Two volumes; London: Sampson and Low. * {{cite book, ref=Jeal, last=Jeal, first=Tim, author-link=Tim Jeal, title=Explorers of the Nile: The Triumph and Tragedy of a Great Victorian Adventure, year=2011, publisher=Faber & Faber, location=London, isbn=978-0-300-14935-7, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PYwFisNvzJ0C * {{cite book, ref=Kennedy, last=Kennedy, first=Dane, title=The Highly Civilized Man: Richard Burton and the Victorian World, year=2005, publisher=Harvard University Press, location=Cambridge, isbn=978-0-674-01862-4 * {{cite book, ref=Lovell, last=Lovell, first=Mary S., author-link=Mary S. Lovell, title=A Rage to Live: A Biography of Richard & Isabel Burton, publisher= W. W. Norton & Company, location=New York, year=1998, isbn=978-0-393-04672-4, url=https://archive.org/details/ragetolivebiogra00love * McDow, Thomas F.
Trafficking in Persianness: Richard Burton between mimicry and similitude in the Indian Ocean and Persianate worlds
.
Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East ''Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East'' is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering Comparative Studies on Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. It provides a "critical and comparative analyses of the hist ...
30.3 (2010): 491–511. {{ISSN, 1089-201X * {{cite book, last= McLynn, Frank, title=From the Sierras to the Pampas: Richard Burton's Travels in the Americas, 1860–69, publisher=Century, location=London, year=1991, isbn=978-0-7126-3789-3 * {{cite book, last=McLynn, first=Frank, title=Burton: Snow on the Desert, publisher= John Murray Publishing, location=London, year=1993, isbn=978-0-7195-4818-5, url=https://archive.org/details/burtonsnowuponde00mcly * Newman, James L. (2009), ''Paths without Glory: Richard Francis Burton in Africa'', Potomac Books, Dulles, Virginia; {{ISBN, 978-1-59797-287-1. * {{cite book, last=Moorehead, first=Alan, author-link=Alan Moorehead, title=The White Nile, year=1960, publisher=Harper & Row, location=New York, isbn=978-0-06-095639-4, page=448, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rBDHGXK1CKcC * {{cite book, last=Ondaatje, first=Christopher, author-link=Christopher Ondaatje, title=Journey to the Source of the Nile, publisher=
HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...
, location=Toronto, year=1998, isbn=978-0-00-200019-2, url=https://archive.org/details/journeytosourceo00onda * {{cite book, last=Ondaatje, first=Christopher, title=Sindh Revisited: A Journey in the Footsteps of Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, url=https://archive.org/details/sindhrevisitedjo00onda, url-access=registration, publisher=
HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...
, location=Toronto, year=1996, isbn=978-1-59048-221-6 * {{cite book, last=Rice, first=Edward, title=Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton: The Secret Agent Who Made the Pilgrimage to Makkah, Discovered the Kama Sutra, and Brought the Arabian Nights to the West, publisher=
Charles Scribner's Sons Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City that has published several notable American authors, including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjori ...
, location=New York, year=1990 * {{cite book, last=Seigel , first=Jerrold, title=Between Cultures: Europe and Its Others in Five Exemplary Lives , publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press , location=Philadelphia , year=2016, isbn=978-0-8122-4761-9 * Sparrow-Niang, Jane (2014). ''Bath and the Nile Explorers: In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Burton and Speke's encounter in Bath, September 1864, and their 'Nile Duel' which never happened. ''Bath: Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution. {{ISBN, 978-0-9544941-6-2 * {{Cite journal , last1 = Wisnicki , first1 = Adrian S. , year = 2008 , title = Cartographical Quandaries: The Limits of Knowledge Production in Burton's and Speke's Search for the Source of the Nile , journal = History in Africa , volume = 35 , pages = 455–79 , doi=10.1353/hia.0.0001, s2cid = 162871275 * Wisnicki, Adrian S. (2009). "Charting the Frontier: Indigenous Geography, Arab-Nyamwezi Caravans, and the East African Expedition of 1856–59". ''Victorian Studies'' 51.1 (Aut.): 103–37. * {{cite book, last=Wfirst=Thomas, title=The Life of Sir Richard Burton, publisher= G. P. Putnam's Sons, location=New York, year=1906, volume=1 and 2 , url=https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/burton/richard/b97zw/complete.html, isbn=978-1-4264-1455-8, access-date=1 March 2008, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110304155026/http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/burton/richard/b97zw/complete.html, archive-date=4 March 2011, url-status=dead {{refend


Further reading

* {{cite book , last= Millard , first= Candice , title= River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile , publisher= Doubleday , location= New York , date= 2022 , type= Hardback , isbn= 978-0385543101


External links

{{Commons category, Richard Francis Burton {{Wikiquote {{EB1911 poster, Burton, Sir Richard Francis {{wikisource, works=or
Complete Works of Richard Burton at burtoniana.org
Includes over 200 of Burton's journal and magazine pieces. * {{Gutenberg author , id=898 , name=Sir Richard Francis Burton * {{Internet Archive author , sname=Richard Francis Burton * {{Librivox author , id=3163 * {{UK National Archives ID – index to world holdings of Burton archival materials
''The Penetration of Arabia'' by David George Hogarth (1904)
– discusses Burton in the second section, "The Successors"
Capt Sir Richard Burton Museum
(sirrichardburtonmuseum.co.uk), "located in a private residence in central St Ives, Cornwall UK" * {{LCAuth, n80057204, Sir Richard Francis Burton, 172, ue {{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Burton, Richard Francis 1821 births 1890 deaths 19th-century English poets 19th-century English male writers 19th-century British explorers 19th-century British linguists Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford Arabic–English translators British Arabists British atheists 19th-century British diplomats British East India Company Army officers British ethnographers British ethnologists British expatriates in the Ottoman Empire British military personnel of the Crimean War Burials at St Mary Magdalen Roman Catholic Church Mortlake English atheists English cartographers English male poets English orientalists 19th-century English translators English travel writers British explorers of Africa Explorers of Arabia Explorers of Asia Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Freemasons of the United Grand Lodge of England Hajj accounts Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George People from Elstree Portuguese–English translators Translators of One Thousand and One Nights Historians of weapons British Indologists Kamashastra