Early Life
Slatin was born in Ober St Veit near Vienna. Rudolf Carl Slatin was born the fourth child of the merchant Michael Slatin, who had converted from Judaism to Roman Catholicism, and his second wife, Maria Anna Feuerstein. Their other children were the twins Maria and Anna (born in 1852), Heinrich (1855), Adolf (1861), and Leopoldine (1864). Their father died on 13 March 1873, while Rudolf was at the Viennese commercial academy. While there, he heard that a German bookseller in Cairo was looking for an assistant. Rudolf traveled to Trieste and thence in five days' time to Alexandria. He worked in the bookstore until he travelled with the German businessman and consul Rosset to Khartoum.
From Khartoum, Slatin went through Kordofan to Dar Nuba, exploring the mountains of that region with the German explorer and ornithologist Theodore von Heuglin. He was forced to return to Khartoum when the local Arabs rebelled against the Egyptian government. There Slatin met Dr. Schnitzer, later famous as "Emin Pasha", and with him intended to visit General Charles George Gordon at Lado, Gordon at that time being Governor of the Equatorial Provinces. Slatin, however, was obliged to return to Austria without accomplishing his desire, though Emin did go to Lado and at Slatin's request recommended the young traveller to Gordon for employment in the Sudan.
Slatin left Africa in order to serve his conscription order in the Austrian army. On 25 September 1876 he joined his unit the 12.Feldjägerbatallon as recruit and one year later he was promoted to a Lieutenant in the reserves of the 19th Infantry Regiment of the Austro-Hungarian Army.
In 1878, while Slatin was serving as a lieutenant in the crown prince Rudolf's regiment in the Bosnian campaign. he received a letter from Gordon inviting him to the Sudan, where Gordon had become the Governor-General. At the close of the campaign, Slatin received permission to go to Africa. He started his travel via train and ship on 1 December 1878 and he arrived in Khartum in January 1879. After a brief period as financial inspector, Slatin was appointed Mudir (governor) of Dara, the south-western part of Darfur, a post he held until early in 1881, when he was promoted Governor-General of Darfur and given the rank of bey.
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