The Life and Adventures of Arminius Vambery

Vambery's story of himself. This is the same Arminius Vambery who sneaked into Bokhara disguised as a travelling dervish. His ability for learning foreign languages was so exceptional that he could fool the locals by pretending to be a Turk or even a Persian. A Hungarian Jew of German origin, born on the territory of modern-day Slovakia, he could speak Hungarian, Slovakian and German since early childhood. Then he learnt other European languages, including Danish and Swedish, etc. Eventually, he travelled to Constantinople and learnt Turkish so well that a number of people he interacted with on a daily basis were not aware of him not being a Turk.



After having lived in Turkey for years, he went back to Budapest and suggested to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences a trip to Central Asia. He got modest financial support and off he went.

Eventually, when he returned home, Hungary was busy with its internal politics and Vambery went on to London where he became an instant celebrity. Friend of the crown prince and a guest to the Buckingham Palace, he felt that he was light years from where he had originally came from.

He was a prolific writer and published hundreds of articles on Central Asia. He is also known to have had a strong influence on Bram Stoker's book Dracula with his intimate knowledge of Transylvanian folklore.