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James Bruce

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Also known as Abyssinian Bruce, James Bruce of Kinnaird

Scottish explorer and botanist (1730–1794)

Key facts

Born
( 1730-12-14 ) 14 December 1730, Kinnaird House, Larbert , Stirlingshire, Scotland
Died
27 April 1794 (1794-04-27) (aged 63), Kinnaird House, Larbert, Stirlingshire, Scotland
Occupations
Traveller travel writer
Known for
Traced the origins of the Blue Nile
Notable work
Travels (1790)

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Given name
James
Family name
Bruce
Gender
male
Place of birth
Stirling
Place of death
Stirling
Occupation
astronomer
Educated at
Harrow School
Languages spoken
English language
Field of work
botany
Image
James Bruce.jpg
Work location
Edinburgh
Show 8 more facts
member of
Royal Society
Commons category
James Bruce (explorer)
date of birth
1730-12-14
date of death
1794-04-27
Commons gallery
James Bruce
writing language
English language
has works in the collection
Yale Center for British Art
Sources (2)

via Wikidata · CC0

~14 min read

Encyclopedic overview

James Bruce of Kinnaird (14 December 1730 – 27 April 1794) was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who physically confirmed the source of the Blue Nile. He spent more than a dozen years in North and East Africa and in 1770 became the first European to trace and document the course of the Nile by following it upstream from Egypt through Sudan to its origins in the Blue Nile in Ethiopia.

Early life

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “James Bruce” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.