“The discovery of wonders” (“Kashf al-Karaib”; Azeri. Kəşf əl-Qəraib ) is a work of the Azerbaijani scientist and enlightener Abbas-Kuli-ag Bakikhanov , dedicated to the history of the discovery of America [1] .
| The discovery of wonders | |
|---|---|
 First page of the manuscript of “Discoveries of wonders” | |
| Genre | treatise |
| Author | Abbas-Quli-aha Bakikhanov |
| Original language | Persian |
| Date of writing | 1830s |
| Date of first publication | 1983 |
Bakikhanov wrote The Discovery of Wonders in the early 30s of the XIX century , when he learned about the great geographical discoveries that had a great influence on his mental horizons. The treatise aimed to acquaint the then Azerbaijani society with the history of America, its physical and political map. When working on an essay, Bakikhanov used several books in French and Italian that were not installed [2] .
Authors list of the manuscript “Discoveries of wonders” with a personal seal of Bakikhanov is kept at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences . Another list of this manuscript is in the library of Tehran University . From this list it is clear that Bakikhanov wrote his composition with the participation of the Azerbaijani poet Mirza-Muharram Meriz, who at that time served in the headquarters of a separate Caucasian corps [2] .
In 1902, Bakikhanov’s manuscript “Kashf al-Karaib” was probably translated by Mir-Jafar Seyid-Muhammedov, the son of the poet Seyid-Azim Shirvani , into the Azerbaijani language under the title “Kashf-i America” (“Discovery of America”). After the manuscript was sent by the first printing company of Baku to the St. Petersburg Censorship Committee for permission to publish, but was not published [2] .
For the first time in Russian, translated by A. M. Agahi from the mentioned St. Petersburg list, “The Opening of Curiosities” was published in 1983 in Baku by the Elm publishing house (“Science”) [2] .
Notes
- ↑ Azerbaijani literature . - The history of world literature in nine volumes: Science, 1989. - T. 6 . - S. 449 . - ISBN 9785020113459 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 A.K. Bakikhanov. Works, notes, letters / Introductory article, compilation and preparation of texts, as well as notes and instructions by E. M. Akhmedov. - Baku: Elm, 1983 .-- S. 310.