Hermann Soyaux (4 January 1852, Breslau – 1928, Brazil) was a German botanist and explorer.

Biography

Soyaux was initially a horticulturalist and then studied botany in Berlin. The ''Deutsche Afrika Gesellschaft'' (German Africa Society) funded him as a botanist on the expedition of Paul Güssfeldt to the Kingdom of Loango. On the expedition, Soyaux traveled at the end of 1873 to the Loangoan coast in what is now

Cabinda Province Cabinda (formerly called Portuguese Congo, kg, Kabinda) is an exclave and province of Angola in Africa, a status that has been disputed by several political organizations in the territory. The capital city is also called Cabinda, known locall ...

, where he joined Güssfeldt, Julius Falkenstein and Eduard Pechuël-Loesche. In 1875 Soyaux was commissioned to go to Angola, where he met

Paul Pogge Paul Friedrich Johann Moritz Pogge (24 December 1838 – 16 March 1884) was a German explorer in Africa. Pogge was born in Groß Roge, Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He studied law in Berlin, Munich and Heidelberg, where he obtained his doctorate. In 1 ...

. When the expedition was disbanded in 1876, Soyaux returned in mid-1876 to Germany. In the years from 1876 to 1879 he published ''Der verlorene Weltteil'' (Berlin, 1876) and ''Aus Westafrika'' (2 vols., Leipzig, 1879). On behalf of the Hamburg trading house Carl Woermann, Soyaux went in 1879 to Gabon. In 1885 he returned to Germany and until the beginning of 1888 he worked in Berlin as the head of the information office for the ''Deutsche Kolonialverein''.

F. A. Brockhaus AG __NOTOC__ F. A. Brockhaus AG is a German book publishing firm founded by Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus. It is best known for its eponymous encyclopedia. History Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus founded his publishing house in 1805 in Amsterdam, then pa ...

published Soyaux's "Deutsche Arbeit in Afrika: Erfahrungen und Betrachtungen" (Leipzig, 1888). In the spring of 1888 Soyaux went to Brazil on behalf of the ''Siedlungsgesellschaft Herman'', a colonial land-developing company. He led the colony Bom Retiro in the province

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

. In 1904 he was one of the founders of the ''Centro Econômico do Rio Grande do Sul''. He then lived in Porto Alegre.

Selected publications

* (The lost part of the world) * (From West Africa) * (German work in Africa: experiences and considerations)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soyaux, Hermann 1852 births 1928 deaths 19th-century German botanists 20th-century German botanists German explorers of Africa Scientists from Wrocław Scientists from the Kingdom of Prussia Kingdom of Loango Emigrants from the German Empire Immigrants to Brazil