CHARDIN, SIR JOHN (1643-1713), French traveller, was born in Paris in 1643. In 1665 he set out for Persia and India. He returned in 167o and published Recit du Couronnement du roi de Perse Soliman III: in 1 671 . In Aug. 1671 he left again for Persia, going by Smyrna, Constantinople, the Crimea, Caucasia, Mingrelia and Georgia, and reached Ispahan in June 1673. He spent four years in Persia, visited India, and returned by the Cape of Good Hope in 1677. In 1681 the persecution of Protestants drove him to London, and in 1683 he went to Holland as repre sentative of the East India Company. In 1686 he published the first part of The Travels of Sir John Chardin, etc. He died in 1713 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.—The complete account of Chardin's travels appeared Bibliography.—The complete account of Chardin's travels appeared at Amsterdam in 1711, under the title of Journal du voyage du chevalier Chardin. The Persian portion is to be found in vol. ii. of Harris's Collection (1705), and extracts are reprinted by Pinkerton in vol. ix. The best complete reprint is by Langlns (181I) .