Carl Erik Alexander Bovallius (or Bowallius) (31 July 1849 – 8 November 1907) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

biologist and archaeologist.

Biography

Carl Bovallius was born at

Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropoli ...

. He was the son of Robert Mauritz Bowallius (1817-1902). His father was a historian and National Archivist 1874–1882. Bovallius became a student in

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...

in 1868, and received a Ph.D. in 1875. That same year he was appointed associate professor and assistant professor at the zoological museum and zootomics laboratory. From 1889 and 1891 he held the professorship in zoology. During the 1870–1880, he conducted several European research trips, for scientific purposes, including travel along the Swedish and

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

coasts. In 1881–83, he made zoological and ethnographic studies in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

, to where he returned in the late 1890s. Starting in 1881, Carl Bovallius explored Central America, and especially

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

, in search of ancient sites. He studied archaeological site at

Ometepe Ometepe is an island formed by two volcanoes rising out of Lake Nicaragua in the Republic of Nicaragua. Its name derives from the Nahuatl words ''ome'' (two) and ''tepetl'' (mountain), meaning "two mountains". It is the largest island in Lake Ni ...

, and

Zapatera Zapatera is a shield volcano located in the southern part of Nicaragua. It forms the island of Isla Zapatera in the Lake Nicaragua. Isla Zapatera constitutes one of 78 protected areas of Nicaragua. As of 1850, Zapatera was described "uninhabite ...

, and also researched the ethnography of local tribes. A species of snake, ''

Rhinobothryum bovallii ''Rhinobothryum bovallii'', commonly known as the coral mimic snake or the false tree coral, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is native to Central America and northwestern South America. Etymology The specific name, ' ...

'', is named in his honor. During the period 1888–1893, he made several extensive hiking trips in

Norrland Norrland (, "Northland", originally ''Norrlanden'' or "the Northlands") is the northernmost, largest and least populated of the three traditional lands of Sweden, consisting of nine provinces. Although Norrland does not serve any administr ...

and Lapland. In 1892–93, he was commissioner of the Swedish department of the

Historical American Exposition The 1892 Historical American Exposition held in Madrid was intended to mark the four hundredth year of the discovery of America. Participants Several countries including Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, E ...

held in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

(''Exposición Histórico-Americana de Madrid''). From 1897 to 1900, on behalf of an English company, he made extensive trips to

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

the Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

, and

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

to study rubber forests. He established a cocoa plantation at

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

in 1901 and in 1904 became director of a rubber company in

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...

. In 1904 he began new journeys in Guyana and Brazil. The ethnographic and archeological collections from his travels in Central and South America are at the

Museum of Ethnography, Sweden The Museum of Ethnography ( sv, Etnografiska museet), in Stockholm, Sweden, is a Swedish science museum. It houses a collection of about 220,000 items relating to the ethnography, or cultural anthropology, of peoples from around the world, inclu ...

Selected works

*''Om balanidernas utveckling'' (1875) *''Vandringar i Talamanca'' (1884) *''En resa i Talamanca-indianernas land'' (1885) *''Mimonectes sphaericus (1885)
''Nicaraguan Antiquities''
(1886) *''Amphipoda Synopidea'' (1886)

References

Swedish biologists Swedish archaeologists 19th-century Swedish zoologists 1849 births 1907 deaths Scientists from Stockholm Uppsala University alumni Academic staff of Uppsala University {{biologist-stub