Born: 17 February 1877, Switzerland
Died: 21 October 1904
Country most active: International
Also known as: Nicolas Podolinsky, Si Mahmoud Essadi
The following is republished from the Library of Congress. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Born in Geneva, Switzerland, Eberhardt was an explorer who lived and travelled extensively throughout North Africa. She was well-educated, spoke multiple languages, and often dressed as a man in order to freely go about her travels. In 1897, she journeyed to North Africa with her mother and they both converted to Islam. When her mother died later that year, Eberhardt stayed and made her home in northern Algeria. Disguised as a man, she went by the alias Si Mahmoud Essadi, which enabled her to travel within Arabic society. She married Slimane Ehnni, an Algerian soldier, in 1901. Eberhardt wrote about her travels which were published in several books and French newspapers, including Nouvelles Algériennes (1905), Dans l’Ombre Chaude de l’Islam (1906), and Les journaliers (1922). She died in a flash flood in Aïn Séfra, Algeria in October 1904.