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# In 1934 the French writer André Malraux decided to fly around Arabia and Africa by aeroplane
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/v-1934-godu-frantsuzskii-pisatel-andre-malro-reshil-obletet-araviiu-i-afriku-na-samolete/
- Published: 2024-03-07T16:58:04.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:34:22.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Archaeology, The East, Geography, Cinema, Books, People

In 1934 the French writer André Malraux decided to fly around Arabia and Africa by aeroplane. Malraux is the author of the masterly novel about the eve of the Chinese revolution, "Man's Fate", from which Bertolucci made "The Last Emperor". Malraux did not fly alone: with him went the celebrated aviator of the day, Édouard Corniglion-Molinier.

The aim of the extravagant duo was nothing less than to find the Old Testament kingdom of Saba. In the 1920s Malraux and Molinier had already flown together, travelling across Indochina. Now the route ran over Arabia. The purpose of the journey, to find the land of the legendary Queen of Sheba, determined the starting point of the search: Yemen and Ethiopia, where, to all appearances, the ancient authors placed the Sabaean state. Having strayed a little off course, the travellers found themselves over Djibouti, after which they received an invitation to meet the Sultan of Adal.

Of course, the flight brought no real scholarly results, and Malraux found no kingdom of Saba, all the more so as excavations in search of places connected with the life of the Queen of Sheba had been under way on the Arabian Peninsula since the nineteenth century. But the expedition itself stirred up interest in the region and its history, and, naturally, in the importance of aviation.

It is curious that both heroes, the pioneers of the skies over Arabia, later became ministers of France: Malraux as Minister of Information, Minister of the Press and Minister of Culture, and Corniglion-Molinier as Minister of State, Minister of the Press, Minister of Justice and Minister for Saharan Affairs.