A popular account of Georg August Wallin’s life and, in particular, his Arabian travels. It appears to be the first in a series on great Finnish men.
Wallin (1811-1852) was a Finnish Orientalist who made his first Arabian journey in 1845, having received a commission from the Egyptian Foreign Office to report on the Emirate of Jabal Shammar and the Al Rashid, who were the rulers of that state. Starting from Cairo he made his way to Suez, whence he travelled eastward, passing through numerous towns of Jabal Shammar before reaching the main settlement of Ha’il. There he learnt everything he could of ‘Abdullah (the founder and Emir of the Al Rashid) and found him to be a most impressive figure. From Ha’il he travelled to Medina and Mecca with a caravan of Mesopotamian and Persian pilgrims — a journey which he failed to record in any great detail — before returning to Cairo.
He started his second journey from Muweila, once again moving inland to explore Jabal Shammar. He returned to Ha’il, where he stayed for a month, before setting out northward, ending his journey at Najaf in present-day Iraq.
Wallin died just four years later, leaving only a handful of published works, which accounts for why his name is lightly written in the canon of 19th century explorers of Arabia. Despite his muted reputation he is an important figure, who left behind new and lasting information on Nejd and the Al Rashid, a dynasty that played a central role in 19th and early 20th century Arabian history.
OCLC locates a single copy at the National Library of Finland.
