Edvard Amundsen (January 27, 1873 – December 21, 1928) was a Norwegian Lutheran missionary in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and India near the borders of Tibet. He is also remembered as an explorer and Tibetan specialist.

Biography

Amundsen was born in Lille Kirkeholmen in the Municipality of Sannidal.Jørgensen, M. 2008. Edvard Amundsen – en norsk rhododendron-misjonær? ''Lapprosen: medlemsblad for den norske rhododendronforening'' 2(3): 4–6. In 1894, he journeyed to India as part of Annie Royle Taylor's Tibetan Pioneer Mission, which would fail within a year. In 1896, together with Theo Sørensen, he traveled to Darjeeling and

Kalimpong Kalimpong (Hindi: कलिम्पोंग) is a town and the headquarters of an eponymous district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located at an average elevation of . The town is the headquarters of the Kalimpong district. The re ...

in the Himalayas near the borders of Tibet as a missionary for the

China Inland Mission OMF International (formerly Overseas Missionary Fellowship and before 1964 the China Inland Mission) is an international and interdenominational Evangelical Christian missionary society with an international centre in Singapore. It was founded i ...

, where he studied Tibetan religion and customs. After their language studies Amundsen attempted to travel from there to Lhasa in Tibet but was halted eight days journey short of the "forbidden city." Later the two of them went to Kangding (

Szechwan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

), China in the foothills of the Tibetan plateau to the west. His wife Petrea Ness (1862–1928), from Mandal, Norway, was also a missionary and accompanied him on his trips to China and Tibet. During the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...

in 1900 he left China for Darjeeling, but in 1903 he returned and then worked in Yunnan for the

British and Foreign Bible Society The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply the Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world. The Soc ...

until 1911. From 1918/19 to 1924 he served in China for the last time for the

Mission Covenant Church of Norway The Mission Covenant Church of Norway (Norwegian: , formerly , DNM ), is an assembly of dissident or liberated Christian churches founded in 1884 after being instigated to do so by the Swedish-American evangelist Fredrik Franson. Gustav Adolph L ...

. He died in

Larvik Larvik () is a List of cities in Norway, town and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold in Vestfold og Telemark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Larvik. The municipality ...

. A species of

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...

is named after him: ''Rhododendron amundsenianum''.''Rhododendron Handbook''. 1947. London: Rhododendron Group, The Royal Horticultural Society, p. 5.

Selected works

*''Primer of Standard Tibetan'' (Darjeeling, 1903) *''In the Land of the Lamas: The Story of Trashilhamo'' (novel; London, 1910) *''Tibetan Manual, with Vocabulary'' (by Vincent E. Henderson, edited by Amundsen; Calcutta, 1903)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amundsen, Edward 1873 births 1928 deaths People from Kragerø Norwegian expatriates in China Lutheran missionaries in China Protestant missionaries in Tibet Protestant missionaries in Sichuan Tibetologists Linguists from Norway Norwegian Lutheran missionaries Missionary linguists

Biography

Selected works

See also

References