Burton, Sir Richard

Sir Richard Burton, in full Sir Richard Francis Burton, (born March 19, 1821, Torquay, Devonshire, England—died October 20, 1890, Trieste, Austria-Hungary [now in Italy]), English scholar-explorer and Orientalist who was the first European to discover Lake Tanganyika and to penetrate hitherto-forbidden Muslim cities. He published 43 volumes on his explorations and almost 30 volumes of translations, including an unexpurgated translation of The Arabian Nights.