Barth, HEINRICH

Barth, HEINRICH, one of the greatest modern scientific travellers, was born at Hamburg, 16th February 1821. He studied at Berlin, and, after visiting Italy and Sicily, in 1845 passed over to Tangier in Africa, and made excursions into the interior, to Tunis, Tripoli, and Bengazi. On his journey thence to Cairo, he was attacked, wounded, and plundered by a band of Arab robbers. He afterwards extended his researches into Egypt, Sinai, Palestine, Asia Minor, and Greece. An account of part of these travels appears in his Wanderungen durch die Küstenländer des Mittelmeeres (1849). He was next appointed by the British government, along with Dr Overweg, scientific companion to Mr James Richardson, at that time charged with a political and commercial mission to Central Africa. Starting from Tripoli early in 1850, Dr Barth and his companions crossed the Great Desert amid many difficulties and dangers. Barth soon separated from his friends, who both succumbed to the climate, and continued his explorations, which extended from Tripoli in the north to Adamawa in the south, and from Bagirmi in the east to Timbuktu in the west, upwards of 12,000 miles. The result of his researches appeared in his Travels and Discoveries in Central Africa, 5 vols. (1857-58). Afterwards he made several journeys in Greece, Turkey, and Asia Minor. He died at Berlin, November 25, 1865. In 1858 appeared a book on his travels in Asia Minor, and in 1862-66 his great work on the vocabularies of the Central African tribes.