RICHTHOFEN, FERDINAND, BARON VON (1833-1905)

This article appears in Volume V23, Page 314 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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RICHTHOFEN, FERDINAND, BARON VON (1833-1905) , German geographer and traveller, was born near Karlsruhe, Silesia, on the 5th of May 1833. He was educated at Breslau and Berlin, and in 1856 carried out geological investigations in the

Tirol

TIROL (or TYROL 1)

, subsequently extending them to Transylvania. In 1859 he accompanied as geologist the Prussian diplomatic mission to the Far

East

EAST
EAST, ALFRED (1849- )

under Count von Eulenburg, and visited Ceylon, Japan, Formosa, the Philippines and Java, subsequently making an overland journey from Bangkok to Moulmein and reaching Calcutta in 1862. No important

work

WORK

resulted from these travels, for much of Richthofen's records and collections was lost. China was at the time inaccessible owing to the Taiping rebellion, but Richthofen was impressed with the desirability of exploring it, and after a visit to California, where he remained till 1868, he returned to the

East

EAST
EAST, ALFRED (1849- )

, In a remarkable

series

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

of seven journeys he penetrated into almost every part of the Chinese Empire. He returned

home

in 1872, and a

work

WORK

comprising three large volumes and an atlas, which, however, did not cover the entire field or complete the author's plan,, appeared at Berlin in 1877-85 under the title of China; Ergebnisse eigner Reisen and darauf gegriindeter Studien. In this standard work the author deals not only with geology but with every subject necessary to a general geographical treatise. Notably he paid close attention to the economic resources of the country he traversed; he wrote a valuable

series

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

of letters to the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, and first drew attention to the importance of the coalfields of Shantung, and of Kiaochow as a port. In 1875 Richthofen was elected professor of geology at

Bonn

BONN

, but being fully occupied with his work in China he did not take up professorial duties till 1879; in 1883 ,he became professor of geography at

Leipzig

LEIPZIG

, and in 1886 was chosen to the same office at Berlin, and held it till his death. His lectures attracted numerous students who subsequently became eminent in geographical work, and in order to keep in

touch

TOUCH (derived through Fr. toucher from a common Teutonic and Indo-Germanic root, cf. " tug," " tuck," O. H. Ger. zucchen, to twitch or draw)

with them he established his weekly geographical " colloquium." Of his written works; besides that on China, there may be mentioned " Die Kalkalpen von Voralberg and Nordtirol" in Jahrbuch der geologischen Reichsanstalt (1859-1861); " Die Metallproduktion Kaliforniens " in Petermann Mitteilungen (1865); Natural System of Volcanic Rocks (San' Francisco, 1867); Aufgaben and Methoden der heutigen Geographie (an address delivered at

Leipzig

LEIPZIG

, 1883) ; Fiihrer f 'air Forschungsreisende (Berlin, 1886); Triebkrafte and Richtungen der Erdkunde in neunzehnten Jahrhundert (address on his election as

rector

RECTOR (Lat. for " ruler," " guide," &c., from regere, "
rule
- RULE
")

, Berlin, 1903). He was for many years president of the German Geographical Society, and he founded the Berlin Hydrographical Institute. He died on the 16th of October 1905.

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