1795: Francis Buchanan M.D. was a doctor and a botanist. He served with the British East India Company. In 1795, he traveled to Burma as part of a diplomatic mission. He wrote extensively about the people he met on this journey, including their languages. Buchanan did not travel to Arakan, but in his journals are some of the first documented references to the Ro.oinga community and their language. He wrote about and recognized the existence of Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim communities living in Arakan. In 1799, Buchanan published some of his findings in the journal, Asiatic Researches. The article details several languages of Burma, including the Rooinga.
1795: One of several copies of Buchanan’s journals and writings from his time in Burma.
1799: An original printing of Buchanan’s article published in the journal, Asiatic Researches (1799)
The Mahommedans settled at Arakan, call the country Rovingaw…
I shall now add three dialects, spoken in the Burma empire, but evidently derived from the language of the Hindu nation.
The first is that spoken by the Mohammedans, who have been long settled in Arakan, and who call themselves Rooinga, or natives of Arakan.
