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See also: English traveller, geographer and Biblical critic, was See also: born in See also: Stepney, Middlesex, on the loth of See also: October 1800
.
His See also: father was a See also: merchant in See also: London, and See also: Beke engaged for a few years in See also: mercantile pursuits
.
He afterwards studied See also: law at Lincoln's See also: Inn, and for a See also: time practised at the See also: bar, but finally devoted himself to the study of See also: historical, See also: geographical and ethnographical subjects
.
The first-fruits of his researches appeared in his See also: work entitled Origines Biblicae, or Researches in Primeval See also: History, published in 1834
.
An attempt to reconstruct the early history of the human See also: race from See also: geological data, it raised a See also: storm of opposition on the See also: part of defenders of the traditional readings of the See also: book of See also: Genesis; but in recognition of the value of the work the university of See also: Tubingen conferred upon him the degree of Ph.D
.
For about two years (1837-1838) Beke held the See also: post of acting See also: British See also: consul in See also: Saxony
.
From that time till his See also: death his See also: attention was largely given to geographical studies, chiefly of the See also: Nile valley
.
Aided by private See also: friends, he visited See also: Abyssinia in connexion with the See also: mission to See also: Shoa sent by the See also: Indian See also: government under the leadership of Major (afterwards See also: Sir) See also: William Cornwallis
See also: Harris, and explored Gojam and more See also: southern regions up to that time unknown to Europeans
.
Among other achievements, Beke was the first to determine, with any approach to scientific accuracy, the course of the Abai (Blue Nile)
.
The valuable results of this journey, which occupied him from 1840 to
.
1843, he gave to the See also: world in a number of papers in scientific publications, chiefly in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society
.
On his return to London, Beke re-engaged in commerce, but devoted all his leisure to geographical and kindred studies
.
In 1848 he planned an expedition from the mainland opposite See also: Zanzibar to discover the See also: sources of the Nile
.
A start was made, but the expedition accomplished little
.
Beke's belief that the
See also: White Nile was the
See also: main stream was, however, shown to be accurate by subsequent exploration
.
In 1856 he endeavoured; unsuccessfully, to establish commercial relations with Abyssinia through See also: Massawa
.
In 1861–1862 he and his wife travelled in See also: Syria and See also: Palestine, and went to See also: Egypt with the See also: object of promoting See also: trade with Central See also: Africa and the growth of See also: cotton in the Sudan
.
In 1865 he again went to Abyssinia, for the purpose of obtaining from See also: King
See also: Theodore the See also: release of the British captives
.
On learning that the captives had been released, Beke turned back, but Theodore afterwards re-arrested the party
.
To the military expedition sent to effect their release Beke furnished much valuable information, and his various services to the government and to geographical research were acknowledged by the award of £soo in 1868 by the secretary for See also: India, and by the See also: grant of a
See also: civil See also: list pension of £loo in 187o
.
In his seventy-See also: fourth See also: year he undertook a journey to Egypt for the purpose of determining the real position of See also: Mount See also: Sinai
.
He conceived that it was on the eastern See also: side of the Gulf of See also: Akaba, and his journey convinced him that his view was right
.
It has not, however, commended itself to general acceptance
.
Beke died at Bromley, in Kent, on the 31st of See also: July 1874
.
Beke's writings are very numerous . Among the more important, besides those already named, are: An Essay on the Nile and its Tributaries (1847), The Sources of the Nile (186o), and The British Captives in Abyssinia (1865) . He was aSee also: fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and for his contributions to the knowledge of Abyssinia received its gold medal, and also that of the Geographical Society of See also: France
.
As a result of a controversy over the statements of another Abyssinian explorer, See also: Antoine Abbadie, Beke returned the medal awarded him by the French Society
.
Sec See also: Summary of the See also: late Dr Beke's published See also: works and
.
. . public services, by his widow (Tunbridge See also: Wells, 1876)
.
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