Sven Anders Hedin
1865-1952
Swedish Explorer
Swedish explorer Sven Hedin enjoyed a life of adventure that many would have envied. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, at a time when to some it seemed that all the frontiers of terrestrial exploration had been crossed, he added greatly to the knowledge of the mysterious region known as Central Asia.
Born in Stockholm on February 19, 1865, Hedin showed an early interest in geography and map making. As a teen, he was commissioned by the Swedish Geographical Society to prepare a map showing the Central Asian journeys of Russian explorer Nikolai Przhevalsky (1839-1888). The map received the praise of Arctic explorer Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskjöld (1832-1901).
Hedin took his first trip east at age 20, when he accepted a job tutoring the son of aSwedish engineer working in the Azerbaijan oil fields. He lived in Baku, on the Caspian Sea, in 1885 and 1886, during which time he learned Farsi, or Persian, as well as Turkish—indispensable languages for the study of the region. He then traveled with a merchants' caravan in Iran (Persia at the time) and Iraq before returning to Sweden, where he wrote the first of many books about his adventures.
Sven Hedin. (Library of Congress. Reproduced with permission.)In 1889 Hedin attended the University of Berlin, before serving as interpreter for a diplomatic mission to Persia. Afterward, he traveled east as far as Kashgar, the westernmost city of the Chinese Empire. In 1891 he returned to Sweden, where he published another book, and the following year he earned his doctorate in geography at the University of Halle in Germany.
Plagued with a problem that caused him to lose vision in one eye, Hedin nonetheless embarked on his first scientific expedition, funded in part by Sweden's King Oscar II, in 1893. He traveled through Tashkent and western China before winding up at the forbidding Taklamakan Desert—once visited by Marco Polo—in early 1895. One of his guides died in crossing the Taklamakan, and, indeed, Hedin's entire party might have died as well had they not finally found a well at the desert's edge.
After recovering in Kashgar, he crossed another major desert, the Tarim Basin, and near the city of Khotan found the remains of ancient cities that showed the influence of faraway Persia and India. This discovery sparked a great deal of interest among archeologists and historians. He also studied the desert lake of Lop Nor, seeking to solve the mystery of why it constantly shifts in size and location. Heading on to the capital at Beijing, he crossed the Gobi Desert's eastern end and wound up at the Trans-Siberian Railroad, which he took west to St. Petersburg and an audience with the czar.
On his next journey, Hedin had the backing of the Russian monarch, who provided him with a Cossack escort. He explored the Tarim River and Lop Nor and entered Tibet, where he hoped to travel under disguise to the capital in Lhasa—off limits to Westerners. Tibetan officials discovered him and he had to turn back. He made his way to Calcutta, where he met with Lord Curzon, the viceroy, then traveled north to Russia. Upon returning to Sweden, he became the last person in that country's history to receive a title of nobility.
In 1905 Hedin set out once more, and by 1906 he was back in Tibet. He mapped much previously unexplored territory; visited the country's second-largest city, Shigatse; and discovered the source of the Brahmaputra River. Returning to India in 1908, he moved northward to Russia, heading east on the Trans-Siberian Railway. In Japan, he met with the emperor and then returned to Sweden, where the royal family and prime minister greeted his boat in the harbor.
During the 1920s, Hedin directed explorations of Asia at the behest of German aircraft-magnate Hugo Junkers, who wanted to set up weather stations in the region. Working with the Chinese government in what was dubbed the Sino-Swedish Scientific Expedition, he directed groups of scientists who explored Inner Mongolia and other vaguely defined regions. The expedition produced 54 volumes of findings, the last being published in 1982.
Hedin supported the Nazis and was the only foreigner to deliver one of the opening speeches at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. He used his influence, however, to save the lives of 13 Norwegian resistance fighters and that of a Jewish friend in Germany. A prolific writer during the 1930s and 1940s, Hedin remained active throughout his life. In later years, an operation restored the sight that he had lost in one eye six decades earlier. He died on November 26, 1952.
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