16 Facts About James Bruce

James Bruce of Kinnaird was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who physically confirmed the source of the Blue Nile.

James Bruce 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.

James Bruce was born at the family seat of Kinnaird, Stirlingshire, and educated at Harrow School and Edinburgh University.

James Bruce began to study for the bar, but his marriage to the daughter of a wine importer and merchant resulted in him entering that business instead.

James Bruce's suggestion was not adopted, but it led to his selection by the 2nd Earl of Halifax for the post of British consul at Algiers, with a commission to study the ancient ruins in that country, in which interest had been excited by the descriptions sent home by Thomas Shaw, who was consular chaplain at Algiers.

James Bruce eventually reached Crete, and sailing thence to Sidon, travelled through Syria, visiting Palmyra and Baalbek.

James Bruce acquired a sufficient knowledge of medicine to enable him to pass in the East as a physician.

James Bruce received court appointments as Gentleman of the Bedchamber and commander of the Koccob Horse, the Emperor's household cavalry.

James Bruce stayed in Ethiopia for two years, gaining knowledge, copying books and collecting herbs that had special medical use, which he later presented as a gift to the French and Italian monarchs.

Late in the afternoon, after having climbed to 9,500 feet, James Bruce's party came upon a rustic church, and the guide, pointing beyond it, indicated a little swamp with a hillock rising from the centre.

James Bruce's journey proved this theory about the source of the Blue Nile to be fact but he disputed the historicity of Paez's visit because Lobo had failed to mention it.

James Bruce suggested that the relevant passage in Paez's memoirs had been fabricated by Athanasius Kircher, a Jesuit who had spread the news of Paez's discovery in Europe in 1664.

James Bruce sought to discredit the writings of Lobo, joking that he seemed to be able to sail on land and denying the existence of a spitting cobra described by him.

James Bruce was detained in Al Qadarif by its governor Fidele, until a combination of cunning, diplomacy and a show of force by his friend the Ethiopian governor of "Ras el Fils" induced Fidele to release him.

In retirement, James Bruce devoted himself to the management of his estate and the oversight of his collieries.

James Bruce was buried behind his wife in the Larbert old churchyard.