The city where Osama Bin Laden was killed in May 2011, Abbottabad, Pakistan, is named for a 19th century British military officer, Capt. James Abbott of the Bengal Artillery. Long before the city was the hideout for the world's most wanted terrorist, it was a strategic military outpost in what was known as The Raj, or British India.

Capt. Abbott lived a fascinating life. Born in England in 1807, he was a schoolmate of Benjamin Disraeli, the future prime minister.


After graduating from the military college of the British East India Company, Abbott was commissioned an officer in the Bengal Artillery. He served in India (often in present day Pakistan) as well as in Afghanistan, having arrived in Kandahar in 1839 during the first British invasion.

Dispatched on a diplomatic mission in what would be known as The Great Game, Abbott visited Russia in 1840. He was attacked and nearly killed in central Asia before eventually reaching the Russian capital, St. Petersburg.

After his negotiations at the Russian court he returned to England, where he wrote a highly regarded book on his experiences. Abbott firmly believed the Russian Empire desired to wrest India away from Britain.

Returning to British India, Abbott essentially ruled what was known as the Hazara district, and he founded the town named for him. He was eventually knighted, and was known as Sir James Abbott. He died on the Isle of Wight in 1896.

Though a city of more than 100,000 residents bears his name, Abbott is not widely remembered.

However, he was deeply involved in diplomatic maneuvers, and he engaged in combat against Afghans and Sikhs. And as Sir James Abbot participated in so much history, perhaps it's somehow fitting that a historical event would occur in a place named for him.