[William Moorcroft (1767-1825). Veterinarian, explorer in Asia--and spy?].
From 1790 to 1791 the surgeon William MOORCROFT studied veterinary medicine in Alford. He was the first Englishman with a complete formal veterinary education. In 1808 he gave up his horse practice and went into service of the East India Company as superintendent of the Company's Indian stud. Search for appropriate stud-horses and his efforts for opening up trading-routes from India to inner Asia induced him to exploring expeditions into the regions of the southwest Himalayas, the Hindu kush, Samarkand and Afghanistan. There he made also a lot of geographical and biological observations. He was not only one of the European pioneer Himalaya explorers but became also an early participant of the later so called "Great Game", the struggle between England and Russia for supremacy in Central Asia.
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D001208:Asia; D004739:England; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D007194:India; D014730:Veterinary Medicine / Q000266:history
William MOORCROFT (1767-1825). Tierarzt, Asienforscher--und Spion?