Gustav Adolf Fischer (3 March 1848 – 11 November 1886,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

explorer of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Biography

He was born at

Barmen Barmen is a former industrial metropolis of the region of Bergisches Land, Germany, which merged with four other towns in 1929 to form the city of Wuppertal. Barmen, together with the neighbouring town of Elberfeld founded the first electric ...

. In 1876 he accompanied

Clemens Denhardt Clemens Andreas Denhardt (1852–1928) and his brother Gustav Denhardt (1856–1917), born in Zeitz, Province of Saxony, were distinguished German explorers of Africa at the time of the Scramble for Africa. In association with the physician G ...

's expedition to

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...

, where he settled as a

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

. In the following year he explored

Wituland Wituland (also Witu, Vitu, Witu Protectorate or Swahililand) was a territory of approximately in East Africa centered on the town of Witu just inland from Indian Ocean port of Lamu north of the mouth of the Tana River in what is now Kenya. Hist ...

and the southern Oromo country. In 1878 he continued his journey to Wapokomoland and along the Tana River to Massa. With the support of the

Geographical Society of Hamburg Geography (from Ancient Greek, 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, i ...

he visited the

Maasai Maasai may refer to: * Maasai people *Maasai language * Maasai mythology * MAASAI (band) See also * Masai (disambiguation) * Massai Massai (also known as: Masai, Massey, Massi, Mah–sii, Massa, Wasse, Wassil or by the nickname "Big Foot" Mas ...

country in 1882 and penetrated from the mouth of the

Pangani River The Pangani River (pin-gi'nee) (also called Luffu and Jipe Ruvu, especially in older sources, and probably once called Rhaptus) is a major river of northeastern Tanzania. It has two main sources: the Jipe Ruvu River, Ruvu, which rises as River L ...

Lake Naivasha Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake in Kenya, outside the town of Naivasha in Nakuru County, which lies north west of Nairobi. It is part of the Great Rift Valley. The name derives from the local Maasai name ''Nai'posha'', meaning "rough wate ...

. The Maasai prevented him from advancing further. Equipped with funds by the brother of

Wilhelm Junker Wilhelm Junker ( rus, Василий Васильевич Юнкер; 6 April 184013 February 1892) was a Russian explorer of Africa. Dr. Junker was of German descent. Born in Moscow, he studied medicine at Dorpat (now called University of Tartu ...

, an explorer, who with

Emin Pasha 185px, Schnitzer in 1875 Mehmed Emin Pasha (born Isaak Eduard Schnitzer, baptized Eduard Carl Oscar Theodor Schnitzer; March 28, 1840 – October 23, 1892) was an Ottoman physician of German Jewish origin, naturalist, and governor of the Egyp ...

and

Gaetano Casati Gaetano Casati (4 September 1838 – 7 March 1902) was an Italian explorer of Africa, born in Lesmo in upper Italy. After studying at the Academy in Pavia he entered the Italian army in 1859 and served there until 1879. On December 24, 1879, h ...

had been lost in the equatorial provinces, he organized a relief expedition which, however, was compelled to return after reaching

Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after ...

. Shortly after his return to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in 1886 he died of a bilious fever contracted during his journey. He is commemorated in the names of a number of animals, including

Fischer's lovebird Fischer's lovebird (''Agapornis fischeri'') is a small parrot species of the genus ''Agapornis''. They were originally discovered in the late 19th century. They are named after German explorer Gustav Fischer. Description The Fischer's love ...

, ''Agapornis fischeri''

Fischer's starling Fischer's starling (''Lamprotornis fischeri'') is a bird which is an uncommon resident breeder from southern Ethiopia and Somalia to eastern Kenya and Tanzania. It is found in dry open acacia thornbush. The English and scientific names commemor ...

(''Lamprotornis fischeri'') and also a number of plants, including ''

Gutenbergia rueppellii ''Gutenbergia rueppellii'' is an African species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Description Annual or perennial herb, 3–75 cm tall, sometimes rather woody and often densely tufted; stems erect or rarely decumbent or spreadi ...

'' var. ''fischeri'' and ''

Ligularia fischeri ''Ligularia fischeri'', known as gomchwi, Fischer's ragwort, or Fischer's leopard plant, is a species in the genus ''Ligularia'' (family Asteraceae). It is native to east Asia. Description ''Ligularia fischeri'' is a clump-forming herbaceous pere ...

'' (Fischers ragwort).

Literary works

* ''Mehr Licht im dunkeln Weltteil'' (1885) * ''Das Masai-Land'' (1885) He also wrote articles for '' Zeitschrift für Ethnologie'' and for the ''

Verhandlungen The German Physical Society (German: , DPG) is the oldest organisation of physicists. The DPG's worldwide membership is cited as 60,547, as of 2019, making it the largest physics society in the world. It holds an annual conference () and multiple ...

'' of the

Hamburg Geographical Society (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Notes

References

* German explorers of Africa German non-fiction writers 1848 births 1886 deaths Physicians from Wuppertal 19th-century German physicians German male non-fiction writers {{Germany-explorer-stub