György Almásy
Encyclopedia
Grad, Slovenia
Grad is a town and a municipality in Slovenia.Grad means 'castle' in Slovene and refers to the castle dating from the late 12th century strategically situated on a hill overlooking the settlement. It is one of the largest castle complexes in Slovenia, with 365 rooms. After World War II, the castle...
, 11 August 1867 – Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
, 23 September 1933) was a Hungarian Asiologist, traveler, zoologist
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
and ethnographer
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
. His son, László Almásy
László Almásy
László Ede Almásy de Zsadány et Törökszentmiklós was a Hungarian aristocrat, motorist, desert researcher, aviator, Scout-leader and soldier who also served as the basis for the protagonist in Michael Ondaatje's 1992 novel The English Patient and the movie based on it.-Biography:Almásy was born in...
, was an aviator, Afrologist
Afrology
Afrology is a scientific study of the organization of the contemporary social structures of Africa. It places in the heart of African social change the notion of identity....
and soldier.
Life
His father, Ede Almásy, was a founding member of the Hungarian Geographical Society. György Almásy studied for a law doctorate at the University of GrazUniversity of Graz
The University of Graz , a university located in Graz, Austria, is the second-largest and second-oldest university in Austria....
, as customary for his status in society. After university he worked in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
as a civil servant, but after leaving his profession he returned home to manage his estate
Estate (law)
An estate is the net worth of a person at any point in time. It is the sum of a person's assets - legal rights, interests and entitlements to property of any kind - less all liabilities at that time. The issue is of special legal significance on a question of bankruptcy and death of the person...
. He was interested from the beginning in zoology and, within that, ornithology
Ornithology
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...
. He published a book with István Chernel as co-editor. His first more serious journey was taken to the Danube delta
Danube Delta
The Danube Delta is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Romania , while its northern part, on the left bank of the Chilia arm, is situated in Ukraine . The approximate surface is...
to study ornithology.
He first travelled to Asia in 1900 with Rudolf Stummer of Traunfels, his teacher of zoology at the University of Graz. They journeyed through the region of the river Ili
Ili River
thumb|right|300px|Map of the Lake Balkhash drainage basin showing the Ili River and its tributariesThe Ili River is a river in northwestern China and southeastern Kazakhstan .It is long, of which is in Kazakhstan...
, the eastern areas of the Issyk Kul
Issyk Kul
Issyk Kul is an endorheic lake in the northern Tian Shan mountains in eastern Kyrgyzstan. It is the tenth largest lake in the world by volume and the second largest saline lake after the Caspian Sea. Although it is surrounded by snow-capped peaks, it never freezes; hence its name, which means "hot...
, and the unexplored, third mountain range of the Tien-San
Tian Shan
The Tian Shan , also spelled Tien Shan, is a large mountain system located in Central Asia. The highest peak in the Tian Shan is Victory Peak , ....
. The zoological achievement of their journey was the collection of around 20,000 animals (mostly birds), with many newly discovered species among them. This tour gave him extensive experience, but rather than from his zoological observation, this experience was derived from his vivid ethnographical notations, which are concerned with the everyday life of the Kyrgyz and Kazakh
Kazakhs
The Kazakhs are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia ....
peoples.
Gyüla Prinz took a part in this journey, but due to disagreements with Almásy, their roads soon split and they made independent, but valuable, observations (Prinz's My Journeys in Central Asia give vivid descriptions of the things they saw).
Almásy came home disappointed from his last journey, from this point onwards he lived withdrawn on his land. His journal and letters sent to his wife tell the rest of the story, but these unfortunately have not been published. His knowledge of the Russians
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
and Turks
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
made it possible to better understand and communicate with Russian officials and Kyrgyz tribal chiefs during his travels.
He published a very important article on the teller of the Kyrgyz
Kyrgyz
The Kyrgyz are a Turkic ethnic group found primarily in Kyrgyzstan.-Etymology:There are several etymological theories on the ethnonym "Kyrgyz."...
epic of "Manas
Manas
Manas may refer to one of the following:*Manas, a Kyrgyz epic poem with 500,000 lines.*The Pali and Sanskrit term for "mind"; see**Manas **Manas-vijnana, one of the eight consciousnesses taught in Yogacara Buddhism...
" about a farewell meeting between the Kyrgyz hero and king Manas with his 2-months-old child, Semetei (the magazine Keleti Szemlé, 1911-12.) It included a Latin transcript of the Kyrgyz-language text of the episode.
Contributions
György Almásy's field work and descriptive writings about them constitute his highest achievement. Later, he primarily made ethnographical and oriental studies; these found readership in the Ethnographical Bulletin and Bernát Munkácsy's journal. His collected works on the Kyrgyz, which the Néprajzi Múzeum holds, have played a part in ethnographical exhibitions.Works
- Madártani betekintés a román Dobrudzsába (Ornithological investigation into the Romanian Dobruja). Budapest, 1898.
- Utazásom orosz Turkesztánba (My Journey to Russian Turkestan). Budapest, 1903.
- Vándor-utam Ázsia szívébe (My Travels to the Heart of Asia). Budapest, Természettudományi Könyvkiadó-vállalat, 1903.
Literature on him
- Асанов У.А., Джуманазарова А.З., Чоротегин Т.К. Кыргызская наука в лицах: Краткий исторический и био-библиографический свод / Отв. ред. академик У.А.Асанов. - Бишкек: Центр госязыка и энциклопедии, 2002. - 544 стр., илл. - ISBN 5-89750-142-4