- Georg August Schweinfurth
Georg August Schweinfurth (
December 29 ,1836 –September 19 ,1925 ) was a Germanbotanist , traveller inEast Central Africa andethnologist .He was born at
Riga ,Latvia , then part of theRussian Empire . He was educated at the universities ofHeidelberg ,Munich andBerlin (1856-1862), where he particularly devoted himself to botany andpalaeontology . Commissioned to arrange the collections brought from theSudan byFreiherr von Barnim and Dr Hartmann, his attention was directed to that region; and in 1863 he travelled round the shores of theRed Sea , repeatedly traversed the district between that sea and theNile , passed on toKhartum , and returned to Europe in 1866. His researches attracted so much attention that in 1868 theHumboldt-Stiftung of Berlin entrusted him with an important scientific mission to the interior of East Africa. Starting from Khartum in January 1869, he went up theWhite Nile to Bahr-el-Ghazal, and then, with a party of ivory dealers, through the regions inhabited by theDiur (Dyoor),Dinka , Bongo andNiam-Niam ; crossing the Nile watershed he entered the country of theMangbettu (Monbuttu) and discovered the riverUele (March 19 1870 ), which by its westward flow he knew was independent of the Nile.Schweinfurth formed the conclusion that it belonged to the
Chad system, and it was several years before its connection with the Congo was demonstrated. The discovery of the Welle was Schweinfurths greatest geographical achievement, though he did much to elucidate the hydrography of the Bahr-el-Ghazal system. Of greater importance were the very considerable additions he made to the knowledge of the inhabitants and of the flora and fauna of Central Africa. He described in detail the cannibalistic practices of the Mangbettu, and his discovery of the pygmy Akka settled conclusively the question as to the existence of dwarf races in tropical Africa. Unfortunately nearly all his collections made up to that date were destroyed by a fire in his camp in December 1870. He returned to Khartum in July 1871 and published an account of the expedition, under the title of "Im Herzen von Afrika" (Leipzig, 1874; English edition, The Heart of Africa, 1873, new ed. 1878). In 1873-1874 he accompaniedFriedrich Gerhard Rohlfs in his expedition into theLibya n Desert. Settling at Cairo in 1875, he founded a geographical society, under the auspices of the khedive Ismail, and devoted himself almost exclusively to African studies, historical and ethnographical. In 1876 he penetrated into the Arabian Desert withPaul Güssfeldt , and continued his explorations therein at intervals until 1888, and during the same period made geological and botanical investigations in theFayum , in the valley of the Nile. In 1889 he removed to Berlin; but he visited the Italian colony ofEritrea in 1891, 1892 and 1894. Schweinfurth died in Berlin.The accounts of all his travels and researches have appeared either in book or pamphlet form or in periodicals, such as "Petermanns Mitteilungen", the "Zeitschrift fur Erdkunde". Among his works may be mentioned "Artes Africanae; Illustrations and Descriptions of Productions of the Industrial Arts of Central African Tribes" (1875).
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