Anyone who tries to form a chronology of the Tarzan series will quickly learn that Edgar Rice Burroughs only provides some of the dates needed to do so. Not only does the author leave out needed dates, but he also actually provides different dates for the same event. In Tarzan Of The Apes Burroughs informs us the jungle lord saw his first man at the age of eighteen. Yet in The Return Of Tarzan Burroughs tells us the ape-boy was fifteen when he saw his first man. The Son Of Tarzan is completely out of time alignment with the rest of the books in the series. In Tarzan The Untamed, Burroughs provides a fictional date for a named real-life battle that is different than the historical data. Burroughs did keep a writing diary, but the author did not always write the stories in the correct chronological order.
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| Tarzan Series |
Fortunately, there are other outside sources that can help the Greystoke Chronologist provide some of Burroughs' missing dates. One source is the Burroughs family genealogy. As I have pointed out in previous articles, it was a regular habit for the author to insert family dates, family members' names, friends' names, co-workers' names, etc. into his stories. Burroughs went so far as to loan his name to John Carter's great nephew in the Forward in A Princess Of Mars and many other writings.
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| Frank Frazetta |
A great overlooked dating tool for Jungle Tales of Tarzan is the birth and growth of Gazan, Teeka's balu. Assuming the Mangani and gorilla are close on the evolutionary scale, as Burroughs' descriptions suggest, a researcher can easily provide a timeline for the short stories that would otherwise be impossible.
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| Jungle Tales Of Tarzan |
Mother Nature is another great dating source. The biggest undated clue in the series is the lunar eclipse that occurs at the end of Jungle Tales Of Tarzan. Since there are no lunar eclipses occurring in Portuguese Angola between 1907 through 1909 this single event proves the jungle lord could not have been born in 1888 as told in Chapter 1 of Tarzan Of The Apes. Also, if a chronologist is paying attention Burroughs mentions rain from time to time throughout the series. If a researcher applies Tarzan's location to the rainy seasons much can be learned from revealing unprovided dates.
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| Thomas Yeates |
Another great nature time clock that can help a chronologist discover unprovided dates is the full moons mentioned in Tarzan Of The Apes and Jungle Tales Of Tarzan. To provide an untold date with a working date I depend on the fact that Burroughs consistently tells us in many passages throughout Tarzan Of The Apes and Jungle Tales Of Tarzan that the ape-man goes to Mbonga's village on the full moon to watch the natives dance and to replenish his arrows and other wants.
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| Burne Hogarth |
On September 28, 1890, a Sunday, Tarzan kills Kulonga and discovers Mbonga's village. That night, a full, moon, the ape-man experiences the way of black men. Burroughs does not explicitly say during that first visit the ape-man watched the natives dance, but as one continues to read, we discover that by the jungle lord's third visit to Mbonga's village, as reported in Jungle Tales Of Tarzan, that the ape-man has already developed the love of watching the natives' dance.
Joe Kubert
"Although he hated them, Tarzan derived considerable entertainment in watching them at their daily life within the village, and especially at their dances, when the fires glared against their naked bodies as they leaped and turned and twisted in mimic warfare." ERB-Jungle Tales Of Tarzan.
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| Burne Hogarth |
"These various escapades again so terrorized the blacks that, had it not been for the monthly respite between Tarzan's visits, in which they had an opportunity to renew hope that each fresh incursion would prove the last, they soon would have abandoned their new village." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
ERB-dom #27
"Once every moon Tarzan would go swinging rapidly back through the swaying branches to have a day with his books and to replenish his supply of arrows." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Jeff Jones
From Burroughs' own provided descriptions, we now know that Tarzan goes to Mbonga's village once a month, on the full moon, to watch the natives dance and to replenish his weapons. Using the Perpetual Moon Calendar / Kabbalah - Vedanta Network I looked up the full moons visible in Portuguese Angola from the ape man's first visit to Mbonga's village, brought on by the killing of Kala until the French sailors burn down Mbonga's village. You can visit this fantastic full moon site on the internet at www.rodurago.net/en/index.php?link=calendar&site=details.
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| William Stout |
Below is a list of the full moon dates Tarzan would have visited Mbonga's village.
- September 28, 1890, Sunday
- October 28, 1890, Tuesday
- November 26, 1890, Wednesday
- December 26, 1890, Friday
- January 25, 1891, Sunday
- February 23, 1891, Monday
- March 25, 1891, Wednesday
- April 24, 1891, Friday
- May 23, 1891, Saturday
- June 22, 1891, Monday
- July 21, 1891, Tuesday
- August 19, 1891, Tuesday
- September 18, 1891, Friday
- October 17, 1891, Saturday
- November 16, 1891, Monday
- December 15, 1891, Tuesday
- January 14, 1892, Thursday
- February 12, 1892, Friday
- March 13, 1892, Sunday
- April 12, 1892, Tuesday
- May 11, 1892, Wednesday
- June 10, 1892, Friday
- July 10, 1892, Sunday
- August 8, 1892, Monday
- September 6, 1892, Tuesday
- October 6, 1892, Thursday
- November 4, 1892, Friday
- December 4, 1892, Sunday
- January 2, 1893, Monday
- February 1, 1893, Wednesday (Tarzan did not visit)
- March 2, 1893
Frank Frazetta
Under normal circumstances, Tarzan would have visited Mbonga's village on February 1, 1893, but for some unprovided reason, the ape-man did not go. On January 23, 1893, Tarzan defeated Terkoz, his foster brother, in combat and gave up his ape kingship. From January 25 through February 2, 1893, the jungle lord remained at the Greystoke cabin by the sea recovering from his wounds. On the morning of February 2, the day after his normal visitation, Tarzan made his way toward Mbonga's village.
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| Roy G. Krinkle |
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| Enric Torres-Prat |
Tarzan carries Mirando's body back to Mbonga's village and drops the body into the streets causing the terrified natives to flee. Once they were gone the jungle lord filled his belly and took what he wanted. Upon exiting the village, the jungle lord positioned the dead body of Mirando in such a manner as to further terrify the natives. All this was done during afternoon daylight which was not Tarzan's normal. Still daylight the jungle lord returns to the Greystoke cabin to find white men there. This event happens one day before the writing of Jane's letter which is dated February 3 (?).
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| Joe Kubert |
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Michael Moody is a lifelong fan and collector of Edger Rice Burroughs. Moody has contributed over two hundred articles to various ERB-related fanzines over forty-five years. He also manages an unauthorized Tarzan blog titled, Greystoke Chronologist: James Michael Moody. There the researcher chronologies the Tarzan books starting in May 1872 (known as the pushback theory) instead of the more accepted date, May 1888.
James Michael Moody is also the author of the action-packed Sci-Fi fantasy adventure Unium series. Pioneers On Unium, published December 31, 2019, Exiled On Unium, published August 25, 2022, and Swordsman On Unium published on July 15, 2024.
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