Gustav Nachtigal, the son of a Lutheran pastor, was born at Eichstedt in the Prussian province of Saxony-Anhalt. His father died of Phthisis pulmonum in 1839. After medical studies at the universities of Halle, Würzburg and Greifswald, he practiced for several years as a military surgeon. He worked in Cologne, Germany. Nachtigal contracted a lung disease and relocated to Annaba in Algeria in October, 1862. He also went to Tunis in North Africa and took part, as a surgeon, in several expeditions into Central Africa. It was in Tunis where he learned to speak Arabic.