Anders Ljungstedt Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 merchant and historian.

Early career

Ljungstedt was born to a poor family in Linköping

Linköping

Linköping is a city in southern middle Sweden, with 104 232 inhabitants in 2010. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality with 146 736 inhabitants and the capital of Östergötland County...

 and attended Uppsala University

Uppsala University

Uppsala University is a research university in Uppsala, Sweden, and is the oldest university in Scandinavia, founded in 1477. It consistently ranks among the best universities in Northern Europe in international rankings and is generally considered one of the most prestigious institutions of...

 for a time, but was forced to withdraw for lack of funds. In 1784, he went to Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, where he worked as a teacher for ten years. Following his return to Sweden, he obtained employment in the Swedish government and served as Russian

Russian language

Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

 interpreter for king Gustav IV Adolf during his journey to Russia.

Career in Macau

Ljungstedt was later hired by the Swedish East India Company

Swedish East India Company

The Swedish East India Company was founded in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1731 for the purpose of conducting trade with the Far East...

, but in 1815 he moved to Macau

Macau

Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...

, where spent the rest of his life in Macau working as a merchant. The Swedish king later made him a Knight of the Order of Vasa

Order of Vasa

The Royal Order of Vasa was a Swedish Royal order of chivalry, awarded to citizens of Sweden for service to state and society especially in the fields of agriculture, mining and commerce. It was instituted on 29 May 1772 by King Gustav III of Sweden...

, and in 1820 he was also appointed Sweden's first consul general in China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. Ljungstedt took great interest in the history of Macau

History of Macau

Macau is a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. It was administered by Portugal for 442 years, first as a trading post, however self administration was not achieved until the 1840's, it was subsequently turned as a Portuguese territory, until its handover to China in...

 and he is famous for being the first Westerner to refute the Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 claim that the Ming dynasty

Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...

 had formally ceded sovereignty over Macau

Macau

Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...

. Ljungstedt never returned to his native country and was buried in the Protestant cemetery

Old Protestant Cemetery in Macau

The Old Protestant Cemetery , located close to the Casa Garden, was established by the British East India Company in 1821 in Macau in response to a lack of burial sites for Protestants in the Roman Catholic Portuguese colony....

 in Macau. Today, a high school in Linköping bears his name and an avenue in Macau (Avenida Sir Anders Ljungstedt, 倫斯泰特大馬路) was named in his honor in 1997.

Sources

• Short biographic sketch from Projekt Runeberg

Work

• Ljungstedt, Anders. An Historical Sketch of the Portuguese Settlements in China, and of the Roman Catholic Church and Mission in China; a Supplementary Chapter, Description of the City of Canton. Boston: James Munroe & Co., 1836. Reprint, Hong Kong: Viking Hong Kong Publications, 1992.