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Danish explorer and author.

On behalf of the Royal Danish Geographical Society, he made a journey in 1912 in eastern Arabia. His travel description is still a valuable source..

Barclay Raunkiaer was born in Copenhagen as the only child of the plant ecologist Christen C. Raunkiaer and the author Ingeborg Raunkiaer. He finished high school 1908 and started studying geography at the University of Copenhagen.

Barclay accompanied his father to Tunisia and other Mediterranean countries in 1909-1910, where he studied the cultural geography of Tunisian agriculture, especially irrigation. When the Royal Danish Geographical Society made plans for an expedition to the Arabian Peninsula, he was made the leader.

Barclay departed from Copenhagen in November 1911 for Kuwait via Istanbul and Baghdad. From Kuwait, he went with a caravane to Riyadh and back to the coast of the Persian Gulf via Hofuf to Bahrain. He returned via Mumbai and Trieste to Copenhagen, arriving in June 1912.

After university, he worked for the East Asiatic Company, where he contracted tuberculosis and died at 25 years old.


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