The man who found Petra by pretending to be a local

Wars & Conflicts · Published 17 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In 1812, a Swiss scholar walked into the hidden valley of Petra, a city lost to the West for centuries. To do it, he didn't use force; he used a disguise, a fake religious vow, and a desperate need to protect his most prized possession: his journal.

Burckhardt's journey was a masterpiece of social engineering. Born into a wealthy Swiss family in 1784, he abandoned a life of professional responsibility to pursue an insatiable urge for travel. Before reaching Jordan, he spent years preparing in London and Cambridge, where he studied Arabic under his mentor, George Renouard. This linguistic training allowed him to adopt the persona of Sheikh Ibrahim Ibn ‘Abd Allah, a disguise that helped him navigate Syria, Palestine, and Arabia for nearly three years starting in 1809.

The discovery of Petra was actually an accident of geography. Burckhardt’s primary mission, commissioned by Sir Joseph Banks, was to traverse the African continent from Cairo to the Niger River to find its source. However, while exploring the region, he became obsessed with the rumors of Wadi Musa. Because the local inhabitants jealously guarded the area from intruders, Burckhardt had to be incredibly cautious. He feared that as a foreign traveler, he would be suspected of being a treasure hunter and stripped of his journal, which he considered his most treasured possession.

By feigning a pledge to kill a goat for Haroun, he used a cunning tactic to reach the valley's border where the man's grave lay. This religious pretext provided the necessary cover to see the antiquities without arousing suspicion. He successfully documented the rock-cut tombs, the 'Treasury,' and the theatre, though he had to cut his exploration short when local guides grew suspicious of his motives. He ultimately departed after the sun set, having completed his sacrifice in sight of the tomb.

His records, preserved in the Cambridge University Library, offer a vivid account of the dimensions and carvings of the site. These documents, many of which remained unpublished for nearly a century, reveal a man of vision who navigated extreme climates and terrains, balancing a scholarly interest in history with the high-stakes reality of 19th-century exploration.

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