ODORICO DA PORDENONE (Odorico Mattiuzzi). 1265/74/86 — Udine 14.1.1331. Italian Franciscan Friar and Traveller in Asia. From Pordenone in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Wrote a famous account of his journey to China and Central Asia. Started for his journey between 1314/18, together with James of Ireland, and remained several years in the…
NUNIZ (Nunes), Fernão. 1500? — 1550?. Portuguese Jewish Merchant in India. In 1535-37 stayed in Vijayanagar and then wrote an account, including a short history of the Vijayanagara Empire. The manuscript came to Portugal and was used by Barros, but then forgotten for many years. Later on he was persecuted…
NOUETTE, Charles Georges. Montlhéry near Paris 6.5.1869 — Paris 2.5.1910. French Traveller, the photographer of the Pelliot expedition in Central Asia in 1906-09. After the cossack destruction of the 1920s his and Stein’s photographs are the only remaining document of many Dunhuang murals. He was son of merchant Albert Charles…
MUNDY, Peter. Before 1609 (1597?) — after 1667. British Trader and Traveller. From Penryn in Cornwall, son of a pilchard trader. In 1609-10 in Rouen and Gascony in France. In 1611 he became a cabin-boy in a merchantman, gradually arose to higher positions. Visited Constantinople (1617), returned overland via Bulgaria,…
MORELAND, William Harrison. Belfast 13.7.1868 — Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire 28.9.1938. British (Anglo-Irish) Historian of Islamic India. Born in Northern Ireland, son of the elder W. H. Moreland and Emily McGowan. Educated 1881-86 at Clifton College, Somerset. In 1886 accepted to I.C.S., studied law and other subjects at Cambridge (LL.B. 1889…
MOORCROFT, William. Ormskirk, Lancashire 1767 — Andkhui, Afghanistan 25.8.1825. British Veterinary Surgeon and Traveller in North-West India and Afghanistan. Born as illegitimate son of Ann Moorcroft, the daughter of a local farmer, educated in “Liverpool as a surgeon, studied veterinary science in France [Lyon]. Made a fortune by his veterinary…
MILDENHALL (Midnall), John. Little Bedwell, Wiltshire 1560 (?) — Ajmer June 1614. British Traveller in India, self-styled envoy of the E.I.C. to Mughal Court in 1603. Son of Sir John Mildenhall (?). Being a London merchant, he travelled on his own account, without any official position, although he often pretended…
MARTIN, François. Paris 1634 — Pondichéry 31.12.1706. French Traveller in India the “Father of Pomdicherry”. Illegitimate son of a wealthy spice merchant, after his death had to work as shop assistant. In 1663 joined the French E.I.C., served first in Madagascar, from 1668 in India, soon in charge of the…
MARSHALL, John. 1642 — 1677. British Traveller in India. Studies at Cambridge (M.A. Christ’s College). Employed by E.I.C. in India from 1668, apparently died there. Served in Bengal and under Job Charnock in Patna. Made a great number of notes on Indian customs, religion, etc., which were published only in…
MARSDEN, William. Verval, county Wicklow, Ireland 16.11.1754 — Aldenham, Herefordshire 6.10.1836. British Pioneer of South-East Asian Studies and Numismatician. Son of John Marsden (d. 1801), an English merchant in Dublin, and Eleanor Bagnall (Bagenal). Educated at Dublin schools, studied at Trinity College, Dublin. “Went out as a writer in the…