- Theodor Koch-Grunberg
Theodor Koch-Grünberg (9 April, 1872, Grũnberg-ober-Essen, Germany - 8 October, 1924, Rio Branco, Brazil) was a German ethnologist and explorer who made a valuable contribution to the study of
South America 's indigenous people, in particular thePemon Indians ofVenezuela and theBrazil ian tribes of the Amazon region.After studying humanities at the University of Tũbingen, he obtained a doctorate in philosophy at Wũrzburg with a thesis on the Guaikuro (Chaco Indians?).
In 1896 he travelled to Brazil for the first time as a member of an expedition led by Hermann Meyer in search of the source of the
Xingu River , a tributary of theAmazon River .Then from 1903-1905 he explored the Yapura River and the Rio Negro to the border with
Venezuela . An account of his trip, including his study of theBaniwa , was published in two volumes in 1910-1911 under the title: "Zwei Jahre Unter Den Indianern. Reisen in Nord West Brasilien, 1903-1905" ("Two Years Among the Indians. Travels in North-West Brazil")He illustrated his account with photographs and his descriptions of Brazilian tribes are still used by anthropologists and ethnologists today.
His second major expedition started in 1911 and took him from
Manaus , up theRio Branco to Mount Roraima inVenezuela , where he documented the myths and legends of thePemon Indians and took numerous photographs. Koch-Grünberg used the local names Arekuna and Taulipang to describe the indigenous groups he studied but these are local names for thePemon .He then explored the Sierra Parima, the Caura River and the Ventuari River, before reaching the
Orinoco River on 1 January 1913.After spending a short time in San Fernando de Atabapo, then the capital of Amazonas Federal Territory, he continued his journey along the
Casiquiare canal, which links theOrinoco River system with the Amazon, via the Rio Negro.He then returned to Manaus, before returning to Germany to produce his most important work: "Vom Roraima Zum Orinoco" ("From Roraima to the Orinoco"), which was published in 1917.
He was the director of
Berlin 's Ethnographic Museum, where many of the items he collected on his travels are stored.Koch-Grünberg died suddenly and tragically in Brazil in 1924 after contracting malaria on an expedition with the American explorer A. Hamilton Rice and the Brazilian cinematographer Silvino Santos to map the upper reaches of the Rio Branco.
Further reading
*Theodor Koch-Grünberg 1906 - "Indianertypen aus dem Amazonasgebiet nach eigenen Aufnahmen während seiner Reise in Brasilien" ("Indian Types of the Amazon Basin", Ernst Wasmuth, Berlin) An impressive collection of 141 photogravures of the people he visited on his 1903-1905 visit to Rio Negro.
*Theodor Koch-Grünberg 1909 - "Zwei Jahre unter den Indianern: Reisen in Nordwest-Brasilien 1903-1905" ("Two years among the Indians. Travels in North-West Brazil")
*Theodor Koch-Grünberg 1917 - "Vom Roraima zum Orinoco" ("From Roraima to the Orinoco")
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