Abraham Constantin Mouradgea d’Ohsson

Who was Abraham Constantin Mouradgea d’Ohsson?

Abraham Constantine Mouradgea d'Ohsson, was a Swedish historian and diplomat of Armenian descent. He was the son of Ignatius Mouradgea d'Ohsson. His best known work deals with the history of the Mongols from Genghis Khan to Timur.

Constantine d'Ohsson came to Sweden in 1798, and graduated from the University of Uppsala in 1799. That same year he became clerk at the Foreign office, spent 1801-03 as attaché in Paris, where he occupied himself with researches in Oriental history, and was then legation secretary: 1805-06 in Madrid, 1807-08 at the embassy of the Prussian royal court, a part of 1809 in Seville, where the Spanish insurrectionary government had its headquarters, and 1810-11 in Paris, where he served as charge d'affaires from 1811 to 1813. Later he served a term as Cabinet Secretary to Crown Prince Karl Johan, was appointed in 1816 to the Swedish Minister at The Hague, was moved in the same capacity to Berlin in 1834 and recalled from there to 1850.

Mouradgea converted from Catholic to Lutheran in 1815. In 1828 he was elevated to baronial position. He became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1817, an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Letters in 1823 and in 1828 of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala. He studied chemistry and mineralogy under by Berzelius, and authored several essays for the Academy of Sciences as well as documents on universal gravitation. However, he devoted most of his time to historical research. He published in 1820 the third part of his father's work, "Tableau Général de l'Empire othoman" and wrote "Des Peuple you Caucase ou Voyage d'Abou-l-Cassim" and "Histoire des Mongols depuis Tchinguis-Khan jusqu'à Timour", a widely referenced work.