Overview

At the beginning of the nineteenth century approximately four-fifths of the land area in the world was still virtually unknown to the Western world. In particular, there was very little knowledge about central and eastern Asia. Between 1893-1933 Swedish geographer and explorer Sven Hedin (1865-1952) made four expeditions to central Asia to gather geographic and other scientific information. During the third expedition between 1906-08 Hedin explored and mapped large tracts of previously uncharted territory in central Asia and the Himalayas. He was able to trace the Indus, Brahmaputra, and Sutlej rivers to their source as well as discover and map the Kailas mountain range. This expedition made a significant contribution to our knowledge and the geography of Tibet and central Asia.

Background

In a previous expedition into Tibet, Hedin had disguised himself as a Mongol. Hiring a Tibetan monk as an...