Sir Walter Elliot was a British civil servant in colonial India. He was also an eminent orientalist, linguist, archaeologist, naturalist and ethnologist who worked mainly in the Presidency of Madras. Born in Edinburgh, he studied at the East India Company College at Haileybury and joined the East India Company's civil service at Madras in 1820 and worked until 1860. He was invested Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India (KCSI) in 1866.
The International Congress of Orientalists, initiated in Paris in 1873, was an international conference of Orientalists. The first thirteen meetings were held in Europe; the fourteenth congress was held in Algiers in 1905 and some of the subsequent conferences were also held outside Europe. The Proceedings of the Congresses were usually published. The International Congress of Orientalists was renamed as the International Congress of Human Sciences in Asia and North Africa in 1973 and subsequently as the International Congress of Asian and North African Studies. it continues to be active.