Richard Francis Burton

Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821–1890) was a famous English explorer, writer, translator, ethnologist, spy and soldier.^[1]

He traveled a lot in Asia, Africa and the Americas.^[2] As a spy for the British government, he was also among the very few Western Christian people who secretly managed to visit the Islamic holy city of Mecca, in Arabia, at the time of the Hajj^[3]

He is also famous for his English language translation of the Arabic book, One Thousand and One Nights (also called The Arabian Nights).

1. ↑ Lovell, MS 'A Rage to Live:A Biography of Richard and Isabel Burton' New York, 1999
2. ↑ Lovell
3. ↑ Rice, E 'Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton: The Secret Agent' New York, 1990