DELLA VALLE, Pietro. Rome 11.4.1586 — Rome 21.4. or 11.4.1652. Italian (Roman) Traveller in Iran and India. Born in aristocratic family, son of Pompeo D. V. and Giovanna Alberini, had good education. In his youth served as a soldier, in 1611 participated in an expedition of Spanish fleet against pirates…
DE GUBERNATIS, Angelo. Turin 7.4.1840 — Rome 26.12.1913. Count. Italian Indologist. Professor in Florence and Rome. Born in a noble family, son of Giambattista De Gubernatis, a revenue official, and Maria Cleofe Turchetti; his brother was the diplomat and geographer Enrico De Gubernatis (1836–1914), his sister the educator Teresia De…
DEASY, Henry Hugh Peter. Dublin 29.6.1866 — Carrigahorig, Co. Tipperary 24.1.1947. British (Irish) Officer and Traveller in Central Asia. Captain. Son of Right Hon. Richard Deasy (1812–1883), Lord Justice of Appeal (Ireland), and Monica O’Connor. He was “educated at Bournemouth and Dublin. Joined the 16th Lancers, 1888, and resigned his…
DAVID-NÉEL, Alexandra (née Louise Eugènie Alexandrine Marie David). St.Mandé (Seine) 24.10.1868 — Digne (Basses-Alpes) 8.9.1969. French Bauddha and Traveller. The only child of Louis Pierre David, a huguenot freemason and ardent republican, also a journalist and teacher , and Alexandrine Borleman, a Catholic Belgian. From 1873 grew up in Belgium.…
DAPPER, Olfert. Jordaan, Amsterdam, baptized 6.1.1636 — Amsterdam 29.12.1689. Dutch Physician and Geographer. Son of a linen weaver (d. 1644) and his wife Trintje Heeren. From 1658 studies at Utrecht, in 1659 Med.Dr. Then living in Amsterdam, where he became friend with mayor Nicolaas Witsen (1641–1717, known as cartographer) and…
DALGLEISH, Andrew. 1853 — near Karakorum 6.4.1888. British (Scottish) Tradesman, Traveller, Spy and Geographer of Central Asia. “For years [from 1873] he journeyed for commercial purposes between Kashmir and Yarkand, joined the Central Asian Trading Company, went with a party to Yarkand, and afterwards made frequent journeys to Kashgar; in…
CROOKE, William. Macroom, co. Cork 6.8.1848 — Cheltenham, Gloucestershire 25.10.1923. British (Irish) Civil Servant and Anthropologist in India. Eldest son of Warren Crooke (1814–1896), M.D., of an originally English family long resident in Ireland, and Elizabeth Pyne Lindsey. Educated at the grammar school in Tipperary, studied at Trinity College in…
CORYAT, Thomas (Tom Coriate). Odcombe (Crewkerne), Somersetshire 1577? — Surat ?.12.1617. British Traveller in India. Son of the Rev. George Coryat (d. 1607), Rector of Odcombe, and his wife Gertrude. Studies at Winchester College and from 1596 at Gloucester Hall, Oxford, learning Greek and logic, but left 1599 without degree…
CONTI, Niccolò (De’ C., Niccolò di Giovanni Conti di Chioggia). Chioggia near Venice c. 1395 — Chioggia (?) Summer 1469. Italian (Venetian) Traveller in India. He spent twentyfive years travelling and trading in the East, accepted Islam and was thus capable of visiting many countries. In 1414 (or 1419) he…
CHEVALIER, Jean-Baptiste. Blois 23.4.1729 — Conan near Blois 30.4.1789. French Traveller in India and Tibet. Son of Jean-Baptiste Chevalier, a lawyer and royal adviser, and Marie-Catherine de La Saussaye. In French colonial service left for Bengal in 1752, in 1755-57 explored still independent Assam, trying without success to get an…