Maria Graham (1785–1842,) née Dundas, was a British travel writer, historian, and illustrator, known for her detailed accounts of South America, India, and Italy. Her works combined scientific observation, cultural analysis, and personal narrative, making her a pioneering 19th-century intellectual.
Born in Papcastle, Cumberland, she traveled to India in 1808 with her father, developing a passion for travel writing. She married Lieutenant Thomas Graham in 1809, and after his death in South America (1822,) she remained in Chile, documenting its political and social landscape.
Graham’s observations on Chilean independence and Brazilian society influenced British perceptions of Latin America. Notable works include Journal of a Residence in India (1812,) Memoirs of the Life of Nicholas Poussin (1820,) Journal of a Residence in Chile (1824,) Journal of a Voyage to Brazil (1824,) and Three Months Passed in the Mountains East of Rome (1821.) She also wrote children’s history books and contributed articles on art and botany.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Maria Graham
The streams of religion run deeper or shallower, as the banks of the Sabbath are kept up or neglected. A preacher in Holland called the Sabbath “God’s dyke, shutting out an ocean of evils.”
—Maria Graham
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