Georg August Wallin

Georg August Wallin , also known as Abd al-Wali (; 24 October 1811 – 23 October 1852), was a Finland Swede orientalist, explorer and professor at the University of Helsinki, remembered for his journeys across the Arabian Peninsula in the 1840s. He was the first Western scholar to study spoken Arabic systematically, the first European to record Bedouin poetry and dialects in the field, and among the first Europeans to reach several locations in northern Arabia. Internationally he has been ranked among the most capable European explorers of Arabia, and was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1851.

Biography

Early life and education Wallin was born in the municipality of Sund, Åland, in 1811, He then began writing a dissertation about Arabic and Persian, while working as a librarian in the university library. In 1839, he travelled to St. Petersburg, where he studied at the Institute of Oriental Languages, under the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under the Egyptian sheikh in 1841–1842. Internationally, his qualifications have been compared to those of U. J. Seetzen and J. L. Burckhardt, and he has been characterised as the first modern Arabian explorer to prepare thoroughly for his mission. His grave in Hietaniemi Cemetery, a Christian cemetery in Helsinki, displays his name Georg Aug. Wallin with his Arabic name Abd al-Wali in Arabic letters beneath it.

Wallin's international reputation was at its highest immediately after his expeditions. His observations of Arabic phonetics remained significant well into the 20th century. Over time, however, Wallin has faded into a footnote in the history of scholarship, partly because most of his notes were written in Swedish and thus remained inaccessible to international researchers, and partly because of his early death. The explorer Richard Burton, preparing for his own journey to Mecca and Medina, wrote a long letter of questions to Wallin — but by the time he did so, Wallin was already dead.

In the Middle East, Wallin is today held in high regard. In his descriptions of conditions and geography across Arabia he is often the first — and only — source to have recorded information about individual tribes and locations, a fact that has considerably enhanced his standing particularly in Saudi Arabia. Unlike many other travellers in the region at the time, he was not perceived as a spy in the service of a foreign power.

Wallin's collected journey writings were published posthumously in the 1860s, edited by S. G. Elmgren. A complete edition of his writings was published in Swedish (partially in translation) during 2010–2017. An English-language and an Arabic-language edition are being planned.