August Heinrich Petermann

August Heinrich Petermann (April 18, 1822 – September 25, 1878) was a German cartographer from Bleicherode, near Nordhausen.

At the age of seventeen he entered the Geographical School of Art in Potsdam, and in 1845 proceeded to Edinburgh to assist Dr Keith Johnston in the production of an English edition of the "Physical Atlas" of Berghaus.

In 1847 he came to London, and published among other works, an account of Earth's expedition to Central Africa (1855). In 1854 he became director of the geographical institute of Justus Perthes in Gotha, and founded the well-known geography journal "Petermanns Mittellungen" in 1855 (publication discontinued 2004). He also edited (together with others) the 4th, 5th, and 6th editions of the famous Stielers Handatlas.

His work did much towards elucidating the geography of the interior of Africa and of the North Polar regions. Queen Victoria, at the suggestion of Bunsen, appointed him physical geographer-royal. Petermann died by his own hand at Gotha on the 25th of September 1878.

It is interesting to note that as 'the Sage of Gotha' Petermann supported the notion of an open polar sea at the North Pole. A warm current, the Kuro Siwo, or the Black Stream of Japan, was imagined to flow through the Bering Strait to combine with the Gulf Stream beyond it. Theoretically, it would rise to the surface near the Pole to create an open polar sea, possibly teeming with life, or to surround an unknown continent populated with creatures as yet undiscovered.

Literature:

"J. Smits: Petermann's Maps. Carto-bibliography of the maps in Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen, 1855-1945. 't Goy-Houten, Hes & De Graaf, 2004." ISBN 90-6194-249-7.

External links

See an 1872 map by August Peterman, published by Justus Perthes, [http://texashistory.unt.edu/permalink/meta-pth-2469 " [Map of Texas, Indian Territory, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas] / bearbeitet v. H. Habenicht."] hosted by the [http://texashistory.unt.edu/ Portal to Texas History] .----