Burton, Sir Richard Francis

Burton, Sir Richard (1821-90), explorer, b. Torquay, Devon, England.

Burton served in the Indian Army and learned Hindustani, Persian and Arabic.

In 1835 he disguised himself as a man from Afghanistan and set out on a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca. White men were forbidden to enter Mecca and Burton made the long journey in constant peril of his life.

From 1856-59, with J. H. Speke, he explored Central Africa. They discovered Lake Tanganyika, the second largest lake in the world by volume of water and the second deepest lake in the world. Then Burton fell ill and Speke went on alone and discovered Lake Victoria (This led to a quarrel between them), so named by Speke in honor of Queen Victoria, which is the largest lake in Africa and the world's largest tropical lake.

Burton spent his whole life traveling and exploring. He was British Consul in Brazil, Syria, West Africa and other places and he died in Trieste.

He knew thirty-five languages. Burton wrote many books about his travels and translated many books from eastern languages. Among his most famous translations are The Arabian Nights, which was first written in Arabic, and the Kama Sutra.

See Edward Rice Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton