NIEBUHR, KARSTEN, a distinguished geoprapher and traveler, was b. in 1733, in the Hanoverian territory of Hadeln. on the confines of Holstein. Being early thrown on his own resources, lie spent several years of his youth in the position of a day-laboter; but his natural energy having led him to apply himself to the study of geometry. audliaving acquired a small property, he went to Gottingen, where he attended the classes at the university until his resources were wholly exhausted. At this period he entered the Dan ish service, and in 1761 he joined the scientific expedition which king Frederick V. sent to explore certain portions of Arabia, with a view of illustrating some passages of the Old Testament. The expedition reached Cairo at the close of the year 1761, and after having carefully explored the pyramids, and crossed the desert to mount Sinai and Suez, proceeded to Arabia Felix. Here, however, the various members of the expedition, which included the eminent naturalist Forskitl, all perished with the exception of Nie buhr, who had himself suffered severely from fever. After the untimely death of his companions, lie adopted the diet and dress of the natives—a measure to which lie was probably indebted for the good-health which he enjoyed during the rest of the travels, which he prosecuted with extraordinary resolution for more than six years. He pro ceeded as far as India; visitidg hlsO'Pemia and Asiatic Turkey, and:. eohiinued the obser vations and researches of his late colleagues in addition to his own special geographical investigations. On his return to Denmark, in 1767, Niebuhr at once devoted himself to the task of publishing the results of his important mission, which appeared in German under the following titles, Besehreibung von Arabien (Copenh. 1772), and Reisebeschreibung
von Arabien u7u1 andern umliegenden Ltindern (Copenh. 1774-78, 2 vols.); the publica tion of the third volume of this work was unfortunately delayed, in consequence of the pressure of numerous other engagements arising from his professional and official duties, and it was not till more than 20 years after his death that the book made its appearance under the supervision of Niebuhr's daughter, and through the liberality of the eminent bookseller I'erthes of Hamburg. In addition to these valuable observations, Niebuhr edited and published at his own cost the natu•al-history notes of his deceased friend and fellow-traveler, P. Forskal, which he arranged in two works, Descriptions Animalium, etc. (Copeuh. 1775), and Flora 2Egyptiaco-Arubica (Copenh. 1776). The accuracy of detail, fidelity of delineation, and careful avoidance of all exaggeration, which charac terize Niebulir's geographical and social descriptions of Arabia and other Asiatic countries, have made his works classical text-books for all who wish to study the subject. Although Niebuhr accepted, in 1778. a civil post, which fixed his residence in the remote provin cial town of Meldorf, in the Ditmarsh district of Holstein. where he devoted himself during the rest of his life to the fulfillment of his official duties, lie never relinquished his interest in scientific inquiry, and contributed several valuable papers on the geographical and political history of the nations of the East to the Deutsche Museum, and other peri odicals. He died in 1815, leaving a character of being at once one of the most truthful and scientifically exact travelers of modern times.