Citizenship France Fields Geographer Field Geographer | Nationality Irish, French, Basque Parents Arnaud-Michel d' Abbadie Siblings Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie | |
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Born July 24, 1815
Dublin, Ireland ( 1815-07-24 ) Died 13 November 1893, Urrugne, France Books Douze ANS de Sejour Dans La Haute-Ethiopie - Scholar's Choice Edition | ||
Arnaud-Michel d'Abbadie (24 July 1815 – 13 November 1893) was a French and Basque geographer, and along with his older brother Antoine-Thomson d'Abbadie, was notable for his travels in Ethiopia.
Life
Arnaud-Michel was born in Dublin on the 24th of July 1815. Whilst his mother was Irish, his father was French and in 1818 the family moved to France. While in France, Arnaud and his brother, Antoine, were educated in the sciences.
Arnaud journeyed to Algeria, then in 1837, he and his brother left for Ethiopia. In February 1838, they started their scientific expedition from Massawa. The brothers traveled throughout northern Ethiopia, travelling as far south as Ennarea and the Kingdom of Kaffa, sometimes together and sometimes separately. Although the expedition was scientific, Arnaud delved into the political arena and was responsible for influencing Gregory XVI into sending missionaries to Ethiopia. He and his brother returned to France in 1848 with their notes on the geography, geology, archaeology and natural history of Ethiopia.
Arnaud paid another visit to Ethiopia in 1853.
The general account of the travels of the two brothers was published by Arnaud in 1868 under the title of Douze ans dans la Haute-Ethiopie [Twelve Years in Upper Ethiopia]. Arnaud received the grand medal of the Paris Geographical Society in 1850.