BERNIER, François. Joué-Etiau (Maine-et-Loire) 26.9.1620 — Dauphine (or Paris?) 22.9.1688. French Physician and Traveller in India. Spent twelve years (1656-68) in India, and was 8 years physician at the Mughal court. Son of Pierre B., one of the foremost tenants of the chapter of Angers, and Andrée Grimault. He lost…
BERNARD, Theos Casimir Hamati. Los Angeles 10.12.1908 — Kosar, Pakistan ?.9.1947. U.S. Bauddha and Yogi. Son of Glen Agassiz B. and Aura Crable, nephew of the yogi Pierre Arnold Baker (1875–1955). Graduated from the University of Arizona Law School (L.L.B. 1931) and Columbia University (M.A. 1936 in Philosophy). Prompted by…
BERGMANN, Benjamin Fürchtegott Balthasar von. Arrasch, Livonia (now Āraiši in Latvia) 17(28).11.1772 — Blussen b. Wenden (now Blusu near Cēsis, Latvia) 16(28).8.1856. German (Livonian) Priest and Traveller, a Pioneer of Lamaist Studies. Son of Gustav B. (1787 von B.; 1749–1814, priest and scholar) and Beata Meder. Educated at Domschule and…
BEREZOVSKIJ, Mihail Mihajlovič. 1848 — St.Petersburg 5.4.1912. Russian Traveller in Central Asia. Born in a noble family, school in St.Petersburg. As young man involved in radical politics, but escaped punishments. Studied zoology at St.Petersburg. From 1876 repeatedly with Potanin in Mongolia, starting as zoologist and botanist, but gradually becoming also interested…
BELLEW, Henry Walter. Nusserabad (Nasirabad, Ajmer dt.) 30.8.1834 — Farnham Royal, Buckinghamshire 26.7.1892. British Physician and Orientalist (Pashto Scholar) in India. Son of Captain (later Major-general) Henry Walter B. of the Bengal army (killed in Afghan war 1842), educated at St. George’s Hospital, London. Served in the Crimean war and…
BELL, Charles Alfred. Calcutta 31.10.1870 — Oak Bay, Victoria, B.C. 8.3.1945. Sir. British Tibetan Scholar, Traveller, and Civil Servant in India. Born as a son of a civil servant (in India) Henry B., educated at Winchester and Oxford (New College). In 1891 joined Indian service in Bengal. In 1900 started learning…
BASTIAN, Philipp Wilhelm Adolf. Bremen 26.6.1826 — Port-of-Spain, Trinidad 2.2.1905. Catholic German Anthropologist, Psychologist, and Traveller, a pioneer of South-east Asian studies. Born in a merchant family, son of Hermann Theodor Bassus and Auguste Krafft. Studied biology and medicine at Berlin, Jena, Würzburg (under Virchow) and Prague (dr. med. 1850).…
BARBOSA, Duarte. Lisbon c. 1480? — Cebu, Philippines 1.5.1521. Portuguese Traveller in the East. Son of Diogo B., a high servant of the Dukes of Bragança. He came to India as a young man, apparently with Cabral in 1500, stayed mainly in Kerala (with his uncle who was factor in…
BALDAEUS (Baelde), Philippus. Delft bapt. 24.10.1632 — Geervliet 1671. Dutch Priest and Traveller. Son of Jan Baelde, a merchant, and Maria Junius, of Flemish origin, lost early his parents (1636). After Latin school in Delft studied at Groningen and, in 1650-54, Leiden universities. In 1654 he got a post of…
BALBI, Gasparo. 15?? — after 1590. Italian Merchant and Traveller, in the East 1579-86. He was from Venice and dealt in jewels, and therefore went to India. Started from Venice in 1579, travelled by the land route, via Aleppo, Basra, and Ormuz to Goa, where he stayed till 1582. Then…