Ernst Gotthilf Sarfert (4 November 1882, Schönau near

Zwickau Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ' ...

– 19 November 1937,

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

) was a German

ethnologist Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology) ...

Biography

He studied languages, history and

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

at the Universities of

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...

and

, and by way of influence from

Karl Weule Karl Weule (29 February 1864, in Alt-Wallmoden – 19 April 1926, in Leipzig) was a German geographer, ethnologist and museum director. Biography Weule studied history, geography and German philology at the universities of Leipzig and Göttinge ...

, he then devoted his time and energy towards the study of

ethnology Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural anthropology, cultural, social anthropolo ...

. In 1907 he became a volunteer at the '' Museum für Völkerkunde'' (Museum of Ethnography) in Leipzig, and during the following year received his doctorate with a thesis on natives of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, titled ''Haus und Dorf bei den eingeborenen Nordamerikas''.Biography based on translated text from an equivalent article at the

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia (german: Deutschsprachige Wikipedia) is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on March 16, 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia (after the English Wikipedia), ...

. From 1908 to 1910 he took part in the ''Südsee-Expedition'' (South Sea Expedition) to

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Va ...

and

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...

aboard the research vessel ''Peiho''. On the expedition he conducted extensive ethnological research on the atolls/islands of

Sorol Sorol is a coral atoll of nine islands in the central Caroline Islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district in Yap State in the Federated States of Micronesia. Sorol is located approximately south of Ulithi and southeast of th ...

, Ifalik,

Satawal Satawal is a solitary coral atoll of one island with about 500 people on just over 1 km2 located in the Caroline Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It forms a legislative district in Yap State in the Federated States of Micronesia. Satawal is th ...

Puluwat Poluwat, also Polowat, formerly Puluwat, is a coral atoll and a municipality of Chuuk state, Federated States of Micronesia. Geography Polowat is located in the northwestern region ( Oksoritod), and there in the western area (Pattiw) of Chuuk ...

and

Kosrae Kosrae ( ), formerly known as Kusaie or Strong's Island, is an island in the Federated States of Micronesia. The State of Kosrae is one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia, and includes the main island of Kosrae and a few near ...

. After his return to Germany, he served as director of the Indonesian-Oceanic department at the Leipzig Museum of Ethnography. At the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he voluntarily left the museum, and later worked as an independent distributor of radios.

Published works

* ''Haus und Dorf bei den eingeborenen Nordamerikas'', 1908 – House and village among the natives of North America .. * ''Zur Kenntnis der Schiffahrtskunde der Karoliner'', 1911. * ''Luangiua und Nukumanu nach den aufzeichungen'', 1929 – Luangiua and

Nukumanu Islands The Nukumanu Islands, formerly the Tasman Islands, is an atoll of Papua New Guinea, located in the south-western Pacific Ocean, 4 degrees south of the Equator. Description Comprising a ring of more than twenty islets on a reef surrounding a l ...

according to records. * ''Kusae'', 1919; later translated into English and published as "Kosrae" in 1983.OCLC WorldCat
Kosrae

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarfert, Ernst 1882 births 1937 deaths People from Zwickau University of Jena alumni Leipzig University alumni German ethnologists