Count Joachim von Pfeil (1857-1924) was a German explorer and colonist in

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 ...

and

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

Biography

He was born at

Neurode Nowa Ruda ( cs, Nová Ruda, german: Neurode, szl, Nowŏ Ruda) is a town in south-western Poland near the Czech border, lying on the Włodzica river in the central Sudetes mountain range. it had 22,067 inhabitants. The town is located in Kło ...

, in

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

, studied at the gymnasium of

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

. In 1873, he went to

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ...

. There he learned the vernacular and stayed in the country four years. In 1879, after a visit to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, he settled in

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

and with Wilson mapped the course of the

Limpopo river The Limpopo River rises in South Africa and flows generally eastward through Mozambique to the Indian Ocean. The term Limpopo is derived from Rivombo (Livombo/Lebombo), a group of Tsonga settlers led by Hosi Rivombo who settled in the mountaino ...

. After falling ill, he returned to Germany. In 1884, having entered the employ of the

Society for German Colonization The Society for German Colonization (german: Gesellschaft für Deutsche Kolonisation, GfdK) was founded on 28 March 1884 in Berlin by Carl Peters. Its goal was to accumulate capital for the acquisition of German colonial territories in overseas cou ...

, Pfeil went to East Africa with

Carl Peters Carl Peters (27 September 1856 – 10 September 1918), was a German colonial ruler, explorer, politician and author and a major promoter of the establishment of the German colony of East Africa (part of the modern republic Tanzania). Life H ...

and

Karl Ludwig Jühlke Karl Ludwig Jühlke (6 September 1856 - 1 December 1886) was a German explorer. He was a leading member of the team which in 1885 set the groundwork for creating the colony of German East Africa. His killing in Kismayo at the end of 1886 by a ...

, and in 1886 succeeded the latter as general manager of the company in

Somaliland Somaliland,; ar, صوماليلاند ', ' officially the Republic of Somaliland,, ar, جمهورية صوماليلاند, link=no ''Jumhūrīyat Ṣūmālīlānd'' is a ''de facto'' sovereign state in the Horn of Africa, still conside ...

. This post he resigned in 1887, and entered the service of the

New Guinea Company The German New Guinea Company (german: Deutsche Neuguinea-Kompagnie) was a German Chartered Company which exploited insular territory in and near present Papua New Guinea. History In the 1870s and 1880s German commercial firms began to site tr ...

Works

* ''Studien und Beobachtungen in der Südsee'' (1899) Describes his travels and explorations in the South Seas. * ''Vorschläge zur praktischen Kolonisation in Ostafrika'' (1887) * ''Zur Frage der Deportation nach den deutschen Kolonien'' (1897)

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pfeil, Joachim von 1857 births 1924 deaths People from Nowa Ruda People from the Province of Silesia Counts of Germany German explorers People of former German colonies German explorers of Africa