Bruce, James, 1730-1794

James Bruce (1730-94) was a great African traveller. He was educated for the legal profession, but in the course of a visit to Spain and a study of the manuscripts of the Escurial he developed a taste for oriental and especially Ethiopian literature. He was consul at Algiers in 1763-5, and from 1765 to 1773 led a roving life in Ethiopia and Upper Egypt. From 1774, until his death in 1794, he lived chiefly in Scotland. His Travels to discover the source of the Nile was first published in 1790. See the Dictionary of National Biography for details.

From the guide to the Arabic and Ethiopic manuscripts of James Bruce, 13th-18th century, (University of Oxford, Department of Oriental Collections, Bodleian Library)

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