Dr. Balázs Dénes szerk.: Földrajzi Múzeumi Tanulmányok 7. (Magyar Földrajzi Múzeum; Érd, 1989)

ÉRTEKEZÉSEK - Dr. Csíky Gábor: Berzenczey László amerikai utazása

He decided to move on to Central Asia and find the ancient Homeland of the Magyars. To fulfil his plan, he made a great journey over four continents. He was the first Hungarian to travel around the Earth (in 1851—53). On his second journey (in 1873—74) he was the first who managed to travel from St. Peterburg to Tashkent and on — across the giant mountains of the Tien-Shan, Pamir, Karakorum and Himalayas — to India — on horseback, on foot and always alone. Here his first journey to the United States and Central America is described. On September 1st, 1851, in the company of the emigrants' leader, Lajos Kossuth, he left Asia Minor to the invitation of the government of the United States on board of "Mississippi" and arrived at New York harbour on November 10th. Berzenczey was a confident of Kossuth's and accompanied him to his trips to Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore and Boston. The American people celebrated him with great sympathy. True to his original decision, Berzenczey travelled on to the west, towards Asia. He followed the route of gold prospectors to California via the Caribbean islands and the Panama isthmus. In February, 1852, he left New York on board of the sailing ship Georgia. The first port he called it was Habana. He sailed on through the Strait of Yucatan and the Antilla Sea to Maguris, by the mouth of the river Chuggaris, east of Mosquito Bay. Then he followed the course of the Chuggaris river — approximately that of the present Panama Canal — and Lake Gatún to Cruces. From there he rode on muleback to Panama City. (This section of the route was later cut by the builders of the Panama Canal.) In Panama he got yellow fever, but soon recovered. In some days time he left on board of Golden Gate to San Francisco, where he arrived in early April, 1852. The ship called at Acapulco for a day. Berzenczey only stayed five days in San Francisco at his emigrant friend, count Sámuel Wass and Ágoston Haraszthy, by then a well-known figure in California. Both financed his further travels. Then the clipper Golden Gate sailed onto the Pacific. Crossing the Pacific, he stopped his voyage in Hong-Kong. With the help of the British governor, J. Bowring, he wanted to get permission in Canton from the Chinese authorities to enter Tibet, but he failed in his hope. He had to abandon this plan and returned Europe from Hong-Kong via Singapore, Calcutta, Ceylon, Aden and Egypt. On his second journey (1873—74) he managed to reach Inner Asia, the Chinese Eastern Turkestan, but the revolts there made him turn to the south, towards India. Berzenczey's achievement is unique: on his two journeys he travelled more than 80,000 km. As a result of long emigration, trials in Inner Asia and frustrations, he fell into dementia and was hospitalized in Budapest in 1875. Death relieved him on November 16th, 1884. Translated by D. Lóczy A Földrajzi Múzeumi Tanulmányok előző számai — az első kivételével — még kaphatók darabonként 60 forintos áron Megvásárolható a Magyar Földrajzi Múzeumban (2030 Érd, Budai út 4.) vagy ugyaninnen megrendelhető postai utánvételes szállításra A kiadvány Budapesten beszerezhető a Magyar Földrajzi Társaság könyvtárában (Népköztársaság u. 62.) A lap utcai árusításra nem kerül. A tudományos intézmények saját kiadványukért cserébe megkaphatják