William Chandless (7 November 1829–5 May 1896) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 ...

of the Amazon Basin in the 1860s.

Life

During his time in the Amazon he lived in Manaus (now the capital of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

's Amazonas state) from where he explored many of the Amazon River's southern

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainag ...

and contacted various indigenous tribes. Arawá, the extinct language after which the Arauan language group is named, is only known from a short list of words he collected in 1867. Chandless sent reports of his expeditions to the Royal Geographical Society, which published them in its journal. In 1866, following his survey of the

Purus River The Purus River (Portuguese: ''Rio Purus''; Spanish: ''Río Purús'') is a tributary of the Amazon River in South America. Its drainage basin is , and the mean annual discharge is . The river shares its name with the Alto Purús National Park and ...

, the Society awarded him its Patron's Medal.

Death and legacy

Chandless died in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and is buried with his uncle, Henry Gore Chandless (1802 - 6 February 1893), and grandfather, Thomas Chandless (1760 - 11 April 1823) in an impressive tomb, north-east of St Mary's Church in Paddington,

. Recently, in 2003, a new national park on Brazil's border with

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

, Chandless State Park, was named in his honour. A river running through the area has also been named after him.

References

Bibliography

Chandless, William, A visit to Salt Lake: being a journey across the plains and a residence in the Mormon settlements at Utah, Smith, Elder and Co, London, 1857.
* William Chandless,
Ascent of the River Purus
', Royal Geographical Society of London: 1866. English explorers Linguists from the United Kingdom Explorers of Amazonia 1829 births 1896 deaths {{UK-linguist-stub