Biography Finati, Giovanni: The Life and Adventures of Giovanni Finati. v1. 29 Dec 2013

[Doitsu]

In 1815, British explorer, Egyptologist and adventurer William John Bankes (1786-1855) hired Giovanni Finati (1786-1829?), a former Ottoman soldier from Italy, as an interpreter for a trip to the Upper Nile. Finati would often entertain him with anecdotes about his adventurous life, which he liked so much that he convinced him to have his his memoires published. He invited Finati to London and arranged for his memoirs to be transcribed in Italian. Bankes translated them into English and published them in 1830 under the title:

"Narrative of the life and adventures of Giovanni Finati, native of Ferrara who, under the assumed name of Mahomet, made the campaigns against the Wahabees for the recovery of Mecca and Medina and since acted as interpreter to European travellers in some parts least visited of Asia and Africa."

Bankes published Finati's memoirs in two volumes: the first volume, which is included in this ebook, contains Finati's autobiography up to 1815, and the second volume mostly describes Bankes's adventures with Finati, which, IMHO, are less interesting, since they follow the pattern of countless other similar contemporary travel narratives.
BTW, Bankes not only translated the text, but also fact-checked historical events described by Finati and added many footnotes, most of them in French, since his primary source was a French history book about Egypt by Félix Mengin.

The bulk of Finati's memoirs are descriptions of the daily life of Ottoman soldiers and the military campaigns that he took part in, but he also provides a detailed description of Mecca during the time of the annual pilgrimage.

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