Eliseev, A.V.: In the Country of the Tuareg People

Title

V strane Tuaregov, “Russkii vestnik”, 1885, 7-8

In the Country of the Tuareg People

Keywords

Summary

In the opening section of the article, the author reflects on the Sahara Desert and its inhabitants, the Tuareg people, exploring the relationship between them and the harsh desert environment. Beginning with a Tuareg legend conveying the message that the Sahara was specifically created for the Tuareg, the author introduces a different perspective, asserting that the Tuaregs were, in fact, created for the Sahara, without which it would be uninhabited. In the following section, the author begins to tell his journey defining it as a medical trip. This approach will hopefully allow him to achieve greater success in engaging with the Tuareg people, in comparison to previous military expeditions. The narrative describes the differences between night and day in the desert, as well as seeing various desert creatures such as scorpions, snakes, and fennecs. In the third section, the author recollects meeting a Tuareg – an enigmatic figure clad in a red cloak. The issue of slavery is also addressed. Section four elucidates the challenges of traversing the desert, exploring the psychological difficulties of heat and dehydration. The author describes the beauty of a palm wood and a subsequent encounter with the Tuareg, who, on this occasion, shares the night by the fire and gives the author a gift: a sachet with medicinal herbs. The article ends by hinting at a continuation of the story in a subsequent issue.

Bio

Aleksandr Eliseev was a Russian doctor, traveller, and writer. Having served as a military doctor in Turkestan, the Baltic region, and Finland, Eliseev explored the northern regions of Russia, Finland, and the Urals. In 1881 he explored the Nile valley. In 1883 Eliseev crossed the deserts between the Nile and the Red Sea and travelled along the sea coast to Suakin, Massawa, and Aden. His most important journey to Africa began in 1884 from Tripoli. He travelled deep into the Sahara, crossed the Hamada el-Hamra plateau, but soon had to return to Tripoli. From there Eliseev went to Tunisia and visited the southern cities of Algeria, such as Constantine, Batna, Biskra. He also visited the oases of Ghadames, Touggourt, Ouargla, among others. In 1885 he went back to Algeria and subsequently returned to Russia. In 1893 Eliseev travelled to the Libyan desert, and in 1895 to Ethiopia, collecting anthropological, ethnographic and geographic material. He was a representative of the Palestine Society as physician at the military-medical department. Starting from 1878, he extensively described his travel experiences publishing them in Russian periodicals. For his contributions to geographical and anthropological research in Africa, the Russian Geographical Society awarded Eliseev with a silver medal.

Sources

M. Rait, Russkie ekspeditsii v Efiopii v seredine XIX-nachale XX vv. i ikh etnograficheskie materialy, “Afrikanskii etnograficheskii sbornik”, 1956, 1, p. 220-281;

M. Zabrodskaia, Russkie puteshestvenniki po Afrike, Moskva 1955;

B. Val’skaia, Vklad russkogo geograficheskogo obshchestva v izuchenie Afriki, “Strany i narody Vostoka”, 1969, 9, p. 5-18;

M. Gornung, I. Oleinikov, Geograficheskoe izuchenie Afriki v Rossii, in Izuchenie Afriki v Rossii (dorevoliutsionnogo perioda), ed. by A. Davidson, G. Nersesov, Moskva 1977, p. 30-71;

M. Zabrodskaia, Puteshestviia A.V. Eliseeva po Sakhare (1881-1893 gg.), “Strany i narody Vostoka”, 1987, 25.

M.E.