Ole Olufsen was a Danish military officer and explorer. He made several notable expeditions in the 1890s to the Emirate of Bukhara

Emirate of Bukhara

The Emirate of Bukhara was a Central Asian state that existed from 1785 to 1920. It occupied the land between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, known formerly as Transoxiana. Its core territory was the land along the lower Zarafshan River, and its urban centres were the ancient cities of...

, including the Pamir Mountains

Pamir Mountains

The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range in Central Asia formed by the junction or knot of the Himalayas, Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, and Hindu Kush ranges. They are among the world’s highest mountains and since Victorian times they have been known as the "Roof of the World" a probable...

. He also served as Secretary of the Royal Danish Geographical Society

Royal Danish Geographical Society

Royal Danish Geographical Society is a scientific society aimed at furthering the knowledge of the Earth and its inhabitants and to disseminate the interest in the science of geography....

. Olufsen was a proponent of the idea that the people's of the Pamirs retained traits of Avesta

Avesta

The Avesta is the primary collection of sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the Avestan language.-Early transmission:The texts of the Avesta — which are all in the Avestan language — were composed over the course of several hundred years. The most important portion, the Gathas,...

n culture, a notion borrowed from the works of Wilhelm Geiger

Wilhelm Geiger

Wilhelm Ludwig Geiger was a German Orientalist, in the fields of Indian and Iranian languages. He was known as a specialist in Pali, Sinhala language and the Dhivehi language of the Maldives.-Life:...

 and Karoly Jeno Ujfalvy de Mezo-Kovesd, and that the region was still populated by adherents of Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster and was formerly among the world's largest religions. It was probably founded some time before the 6th century BCE in Greater Iran.In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil...

. During his 1898-99 expeditions to the Pamirs, Olufsen was accompanied by Danish botanist Ove Paulsen

Ove Paulsen

Ove Vilhelm Paulsen was a Danish botanist. He studeied at the University of Copenhagen under professor Eugen Warming. He was a keeper at the Botanical Museum of the University of Copenhagen from 1905 to 1920, when he became professor of botany at the Pharmaceutical College in Copenhagen, a...

.

Further reading

• Olufsen, Ole. 1911. The Emir of Bokhara and His Country: Journeys and Studies in Bokhara. William Heinemann.