O
OLEARIUS, Adam
By Pierre Joppen
Sep 4, 2005, 09:24

Adam Olearius was a seventeenth-century German scholar, employed as secretary to an embassy sent by the small German state of Holstein to explore an overland trade route with Persia.

The first embassy was dispatched to Russia in 1633-34 to secure the tsar's permission to travel and ship through his realm. The second was sent in 1635 to complete the deal with the king (shah) of Persia. Although the commercial mission failed miserably, the embassy was successful in the incredible amount of information gathered by Olearius.

After returning to Holstein in 1639, Olearius continued in the Duke's service and published the first edition of his travels in 1647. In 1656 he released a second, enlarged edition which became very popular throughout Europe and within a few years was translated into Dutch, French, Italian and English.