Sketches of Central Asia Additional Chapters on My Travels, Adventures and on the Ethnology of Central Asia

by Ármin Vámbéry

REPRINT. Special Description Note- This is not a print on demand edition. Care has been taken to enhance the legibility of the original text whenever possible. Martino Publishing follows the standards of traditional printing and quality is a primary concern. We distinguish ourselves from Print on Demand by our quality controls, paper quality and binding quality . Hardbound. Octavo. viii, 444 p. Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott, 1868. Vambery came from a poor Jewish family. He attendedthe village school in his native town until the age of twelve and showed a remarkable aptitude for learning languages. By the age of sixteen, he had a good knowledge of Hungarian, Latin, French, and German. He was also rapidly acquiring English, theScandinavian languages, Russian, Serbian, and other Slavic languages. In 1861 he received a stipend of a thousand florins, and in the autumn of the same year, disguised as a Sunnite dervish, and under the name of Reshit Efendi, he setout from Constantinople. His route lay from Trebizond on the Black Sea to Tehran in Persia, where he joined a band of pilgrims returning from Mecca, spending several months with them traveling across Central Asia (Tabriz, Zanjan, and Kazvin). He then went to Shiraz, through Ispahan, and in June, 1863, he reached Khiva. Throughout this time, he succeeded in maintaining his disguise as "Reshit Efendi," so that upon his arrival at Khiva he managed to keep up appearances during interviews with thelocal khan. Together with his band of travelers, he then crossed Bokhara and arrived at Samarkand. Initially, he aroused the suspicions of the local ruler, who kept him in an audience for a full half-hour. Vámbéry managed to maintain his pretences,and left the audience laden with gifts. Upon leaving Samarkand, Vámbéry began making his way back to Constantinople, traveling by way of Herat. There he took leave of the band of dervishes and joined a caravan to Tehran, and from there, via Trebizond and Erzerum, to Constantinople, arriving there in March 1864. This was the first journey of its kind undertaken by a Western European; and since it was necessary to avoid suspicion, Vámbéry could not take even fragmentary notes, except by stealth. He returned to Europe in 1864. That following June, he paid a visit to London, where he was treated as a celebrity because of his daring adventures and knowledge of languages. That same year, he published his Travels in Central Asia, based on thefew, furtive notes he was able to make while traveling with the dervishes. Returning to Hungary, Vámbéry was appointed professor of Oriental languages at the University of Budapest in 1865, retiring in 1905.

444 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1970

About the author

Vámbéry was born in the city of Szentgyörgy, in the Kingdom of Hungary(now Svätý Jur in Slovakia), into a poor Jewish family.

Despite being raised Jewish, he later on became an atheist.[1] Vámbéry was 1 year old when his father died and the family moved to Dunaszerdahely, Kingdom of Hungary...

Wikipedia

Reviews

[Bahman Bahman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Arminius Vambery was especially attracted by the literature and culture of the Ottoman Empire including Turkey. By the age of twenty, Vambery had learned enough Ottoman Turkish to enable him to go, through the assistance of Baron Joseph Eotvos, to Istanbul and establish himself as a private tutor of European languages. He became a tutor in the house of Huseyin Daim Pasha, and, under the influence of his friend and instructor, Ahmet Efendi, became a full Osmanli, serving as secretary to Fuad Pasha. About this time he was elected a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in recognition of his translations of Ottoman historians.

After spending about a year in Constantinople, he published a German-Turkish dictionary in 1858. Later, he also published various other linguistic works. He also learned some twenty other Turkish languages and dialects. Returning to Budapest in 1861, he received a stipend of a thousand florins from the academy, and in the autumn of the same year, disguised as a Sunni dervish, and under the name of Reshid Efendi, he set out from Constantinople. His route lay from Trebizond on the Black Sea to Tehran in Persia, where he joined a band of pilgrims returning from Mecca, spending several months with them traveling across Central Iran (Tabriz, Zanjan, and Ghazvin). He then went to Shiraz, through Isfahan, and in June, 1863, he reached Kharazm (Central Asia). Throughout this time, he succeeded in maintaining his disguise as Reshid Efendi, so that upon his arrival at the Khanate of Khiva he managed to keep up appearances during interviews with Khan Sayyid Muhammad. Together with his band of travelers, he then crossed Bokhara and arrived at Samarkand. Initially, he aroused the suspicions of the local ruler, who kept him in an audience for a full half-hour. Vambery managed to maintain his pretences, and left the audience laden with gifts. Upon leaving Samarkand, Vambery began making his way back to Constantinople, traveling by way of Herat. There he took leave of the band of dervishes and joined a caravan to Tehran, and from there, via Trebizond and Erzurum, to Constantinople, arriving there in March 1864