Prince Alexander Philipp Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied (23 September 1782 – 3 February 1867) was a German

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

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). ...

and naturalist. He led a pioneering expedition to southeast Brazil between 1815–1817, from which the album ''Reise nach Brasilien,'' which first revealed to Europe real images of Brazilian Indians, was the ultimate result. It was translated into several languages and recognized as one of the greatest contributions to the knowledge of Brazil at the beginning of the nineteenth century. In 1832 he embarked on another expedition, this time to United States, together with the Swiss painter

Karl Bodmer Johann Carl Bodmer (11 February 1809 – 30 October 1893) was a Swiss-French printmaker, etcher, lithographer, zinc engraver, draughtsman, painter, illustrator and hunter. Known as Karl Bodmer in literature and paintings, as a Swiss and French c ...

. Prince Maximilian collected many examples of ethnography, and many specimens of flora and fauna of the area, still preserved in museum collections, notably in the Lindenmuseum,

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the Swa ...

. The

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomencla ...

'' Neuwiedia'' Blume (

Orchidaceae Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

) was named for him. Also, Prince Maximilian is honored in the scientific names of eight

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

of reptiles: '' Hydromedusa maximiliani'', '' Micrablepharis maximiliani'', ''

Bothrops neuwiedi :''Common names: Neuwied's lancehead, Silva VX da (2004). "The ''Bothrops neuwiedi'' complex". ''In'': Campbell JA, Lamar WW (2004). ''The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere''. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates. 870 pp. ...

'', ''

Polemon neuwiedi ''Polemon neuwiedi'', called commonly the Ivory Coast snake-eater or Neuwied's polemon, is a species of venomous rear-fanged snake in the family Atractaspididae. The species is endemic to West Africa. Etymology The specific name or epithet, '' ...

'', ''

Pseudoboa neuwiedi ''Pseudoboa neuwiedii'', commonly known as the ''ratonel'' or ''ratonera'' (mouse-eater), is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to northern South America. Geographic range ''Pseudoboa neuwiedii'' is found on th ...

'', '' Sibynomorphus neuwiedi'', '' Xenodon neuwiedii'', and ''

Ramphotyphlops wiedii The brown-snouted blind snake (''Anilios wiedii)'', also known commonly as Wied's blind snake, is a species of snake in the family Typhlopidae. McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré TA (1999). ''Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographi ...

''.

Biography

Wied was born in

Neuwied Neuwied () is a town in the north of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, capital of the District of Neuwied. Neuwied lies on the east bank of the Rhine, 12 km northwest of Koblenz, on the railway from Frankfurt am Main to Cologne. T ...

, the grandson of the ruling count (after 1784 prince) Johann Friedrich Alexander of

Wied-Neuwied Wied-Neuwied was a German statelet in northeastern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, located northeast of the Rhine River flanking the northern side of the city of Neuwied. Wied-Neuwied emerged from the partitioning of Wied. Its status was elevat ...

. Born at the end of the European Enlightenment, Maximilian became friends with two of its major figures:

Johann Friedrich Blumenbach Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (11 May 1752 – 22 January 1840) was a German physician, naturalist, physiologist, and anthropologist. He is considered to be a main founder of zoology and anthropology as comparative, scientific disciplines. He was ...

, a major comparative anthropologist under whom he studied biological sciences, and

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, ...

, who served as Maximilian's mentor. He joined the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was '' de facto'' dissolved by an ...

n army in 1800 during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, rising to the rank of major. He was given a leave of absence from the army in 1815 (prior to Napoleon's escape from Elba). Map to illustrate the Route of Prince Maximilian of Wied in the interior of North America 1832-1834

Map to illustrate the Route of Prince Maximilian of Wied in the interior of North America 1832-1834

Wied led an expedition to southeast Brazil from 1815 to 1817. In 1816 he found the tribe of the Botocudos, about which he gave exact details for the first time. On account of the war among the different tribes of the country he was obliged to abandon his original route and remained for some time near some ruins that he had come across. North of the Belmonte river he made his way through the woods, and after many difficulties arrived in the province of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literall ...

. His delicate health forced him to abandon his expedition, and he was detained on unfounded suspicions for four days, and robbed of a large part of his collection of insects and plants. After this he resolved to leave the country, and embarked for Germany on 10 May 1817. On his return, he wrote ''Reise nach Brasilien'' (1820–21) and ''Beiträge zur Naturgeschichte von Brasilien'' (1825–33). In 1832 he travelled to the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and ...

region of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

, accompanied by the Swiss painter

on a journey up the Missouri River, and wrote ''Reise in das Innere Nord-Amerikas'' (1840) on his return. During his travels, he was a sympathetic recorder of the cultures of many of the Native American tribes he encountered, notably the

Mandan The Mandan are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains who have lived for centuries primarily in what is now North Dakota. They are enrolled in the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. About half of the Mandan still re ...

and the

Hidatsa The Hidatsa are a Siouan people. They are enrolled in the federally recognized Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. Their language is related to that of the Crow, and they are sometimes considered a parent ...

, who lived in settled villages on the banks of the Missouri, but also such nomadic peoples as the

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota: /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations peoples in North America. The modern Sioux consist of two major divisions based on language divisions: the Dakota an ...

Assiniboine The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakoda ...

, Plains Cree,

Gros Ventres The Gros Ventre ( , ; meaning "big belly"), also known as the Aaniiih, A'aninin, Haaninin, Atsina, and White Clay, are a historically Algonquian-speaking Native American tribe located in north central Montana. Today the Gros Ventre people are ...

and

Blackfoot The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or " Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Bla ...

. Bodmer's

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting met ...

paintings of individuals, artefacts and customs among the Indians are acknowledged as among the most accurate and informative ever made. Many were adapted as hand-coloured engravings to illustrate the publication of 1840. In 1845, he was elected as a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

Gallery

Image:Memorial to Maximilian Prince of Wied, Mount Vernon Gardens, Omaha.jpg, Memorial to Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied in Mount Vernon Gardens,

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest ci ...

, United States. Image:Karl_Bodmer_Travels_in_America_(23).jpg, ''Encampment of the travellers on the Missouri''. Maximilian is likely the man on the right in blue smoking a pipe.

Aquatint Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching that produces areas of tone rather than lines. For this reason it has mostly been used in conjunction with etching, to give both lines and shaded tone. It has also been used ...

illustration by

from ''Maximilian Prince of Wied’s Travels in the Interior of North America, during the years 1832–1834''. Image:Karl_Bodmer_Travels_in_America_(26).jpg, ''The Travellers Meeting with Minatarre Indians Near Fort Clark''. Maximilian is apparently the man in green holding a gun.

illustration by

from ''Maximilian Prince of Wied’s Travels in the Interior of North America, during the years 1832–1834''.

References

External links

Collection at Old Book Art
All 81 aquatint illustrations and map from ''Maximilian Prince of Wied’s Travels in the Interior of North America, during the years 1832–1834''
Prince Maximilian of Wied
* ttp://faculty.evansville.edu/ck6/bstud/princemax.html Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied (1782–1867) naturalist, ethnologistbr>An Illustrated Expedition of North America: Bodmer and Maximilian in the American West
* ttp://faculty.evansville.edu/ck6/bstud/maxfrogs.html Frogs and turtle named by Prince Max
A Journey Through the Nebraska Region in 1833 and 1834: From the Diaries of Prince Maximilian of Wied
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wied-Neuwied, Maximilian Zu 1782 births 1867 deaths German ethnologists German explorers German ornithologists German taxonomists 19th-century German botanists 19th-century German zoologists Explorers of South America Honorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Maximilian Of Wied-Neuwied, Prince People from Neuwied

Biography

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading

External links