Edition 2-2010 - Posten Åland

28 ÅLANDSPOSTEN FRIMÄRKEN
�bd-al-�ali from Åland
�hy does Åland �ost choose to feature on a stamp an explorer and orientalist with
the �rabian name �bd-al-�ali? �ell, he was born in Åland 200 years ago.
His given name was Georg August Wallin and he
was born 24 October 1811 in the Åland municipality
of Sund as the son of district registrar Israel Wallin
from Kumlinge and Johanna Maria Ahrenberg from
Eckerö. In 1817, the family moved to Turku when
his father was appointed County Treasurer of Turku
and Pori County.
WAS INSPIRED
Then 18-year-old Georg August entered the University
of Helsinki in 1829 to study oriental languages
and received his MA in 1836. Three years later, he
travelled to St. Petersburg, where he met Egyptian
Sheikh Muhammad Sayyad al-Tantawi whose tales
about the Middle East inspired the young scholar.
Wallin conducted his fi rst expedition in Egypt in
1843.
CLAIMED TO BE MUSLIM
He travelled the Arab world for six years. To gain
acceptance and access to places of interest in the
Arab world he presented himself as a Russian subject
from Central Asia, the muslim Abd-al-Wali. He was
exceptionally dark for a Finn with dark hair and
brown eyes, helpful traits combined with his knowledge
of language. He wrote letters and took daily
notes during his travels in the Arab world; due to
his early death (23 October 1852), however, only a
fraction of his research material has been published.
A series of Wallin’s articles will be published by The
Society of Swedish Literature in Finland as of this
year. Wallin had an extremely good knowledge of
language, and the material includes texts in Arabic,
Latin, German, French, English and Swedish.
SIGNIFICANT ORIENTALIST
Unjustifi ably, Wallin has seldom been quoted in the
writing of history, despite the fact that he is considered
to be one of the most signifi cant explorers
of the Arabian Peninsula together with two other
Arabia travellers of the 1800s, Johann Ludwig
Burckhardt and Charles Montague Doughty as well
as Wilfred Thesiger of the 1900s. ✹
Source: ”Georg August Wallin skrifter 1” by Kaj Öhrnberg and
Patricia Berg.