John William Gerard de Brahm (1718 c. 1799) was a German

cartographer Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...

, engineer and mystic.

Life

He was born in

Koblenz Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman military post by Drusus around 8 B.C. Its name ...

, Germany, the eight child of a court musician employed by the

Elector of Trier The elector of Trier was one of the prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire and, in his capacity as archbishop, administered the archdiocese of Trier. The territories of the electorate and the archdiocese were not, however, equivalent. Histor ...

. He became "Captain Engineer" in the Imperial Army, but after his marriage (to Wilhelmina) emigrated to the British

colony of Georgia In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

. In the 1750s they baptized children at the "Independent Congregational Churches" in Stoney Creek and later Charleston, in present-day South Carolina. In 1754 he was appointed by the British as surveyor general for

Georgia Colony Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. In August 1756 he traveled to the Cherokee Overhill country on the banks of the Little Tennessee River as the engineer constructing Fort Loudoun. He is said to have been the most prolific mapmaker in the Southern Colonies in the late eighteenth century. He drew up the plans for the New Bermuda settlement in Florida.Distinct fro
Fromajadas and Indigo: The Minorcan Colony in Florida By Kenneth Henry Beeson
/ref> Formerly an ally of European colonisation, his contact with American Indians led him to despise

European imperialism Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...

as a sin which would ultimately bring destruction to the world. He believed that the American Indians had been corrupted by the immorality of traders and their attempts to civilise them. He was imprisoned in France by the American Revolutionary government, accused of being loyal to the British cause. His wide-ranging travels show that in 1778 he resided in Britain; making a brief visit to his German homeland. By 1784,

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

records show him living in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

. There his writings on Cosmography were inspired by the ideas of an earlier German mystic,

Jacob Boehme Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Jac ...

. He perceived the eighteenth century carving up of lands for personal glory as a tyranny of reason. He died in

Works

''Atlantic Pilot'', (1772)
* ''Time an Apparition of Eternity'' and ''Voice of the Everlasting Gospel'', (1791-2) * ''Apocalyptic Gnomon Points out Eternity's Divisibility Rated with Time Pointed at by Gnomons Sidereal'', (1795)

Legacy

De Brahm, derided by contemporaries, never managed to gain many followers to his religious thought. His criticism of dynastic politics and the aggression of nation-states as well as his anti-imperialist position was not well received in the intellectual climate of the early American Republic.

References

External links

The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Brahm, John William Gerard German cartographers American cartographers German Quakers Converts to Quakerism German emigrants to the United States Scientists from Koblenz 1718 births 1799 deaths 18th-century Quakers People of Georgia (British colony) 18th-century German male writers 18th-century German writers