Richard Francis Burton (Burton Richard Francis)

(1821-1890)
Born March 19, 1821 in the county of Hertfordshire. In childhood acquired a love for travel. After studying a year at Oxford University, in 1842 Burton joined the army and went to India. In Sindh, communicating with local residents, seized Gujarati, Marathi, Hindi, Persian and Arabic. In 1853, under the guise of pilgrims traveled to the interior of Arabia, which is described in the book The Pilgrimage to Medina and Mecca (Pilgrimage to Al-Medinah and Mecca, 1855). Burton made several trips to countries in Eastern and Central Africa, together with Dzh.H.Spikom in 1858 discovered Lake Tanganyika. He is the author of books - First steps in Eastern Africa (First Footsteps in East Africa, . 1856); Lakes Region of Equatorial Africa (Lake Regions of Equatorial Africa, . 1860); Highlands of Brazil (The Highlands of Brazil, . 1869); unexplored Syria (Unexplored Syria, . 1872), Ultima Thule (Ultima Thule, . 1875, . devoted to Iceland) and others,
. Burton served as a consul at o.Fernando Po (now Bioko) in Equatorial Africa, in Santos in Brazil, Damascus and Trieste. In 1885 he was elevated to the dignity of knighthood. His most famous work - translation Arab tales One Thousand and One Nights (The Thousand Nights and a Night, 1885-1888). Burton died in Trieste, October 20, 1890.