The African Who Measured The Great Wall of China
The African Who Measured The Great Wall of China Left: Portrait of a young Gannibal; Right: The Great Wall of China, circa 1750, Dutch school (Source: Leiden University Libraries ) The Cameroonian military engineer Ibrahim Gannibal (c. 1696-1781) was once instructed to measure one of the wonders of the ancient world - the Great Wall of China. Gannibal lived in Russia for most of his life. For us to understand and to truly appreciate the weight of Gannibal's accomplishment, we must first take a look at just how much the people of Europe understood about the wall. A section of the Great Wall on the Hanging Cliffs leading up to Jiayu Pass Photo by Aine Hickey (Source: Wikipedia Commons ) Although the wall was around since at least the third century B.C., no European had seen the Great Wall of China with their own eyes until the early 1600s . The first on record is Portuguese Jesuit Bento de Góis (1562-1607), who reached the northwestern Jiayu Pass from I...