250px, Picture of Dr. Hans Steffen in 1916 Hans Steffen Hoffman (20 July 1865, in Fürstenwerder,

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 ...

– 7 April 1936, in Davos, Switzerland) was a German geographer and explorer of the

Aysén Region The Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region ( es, Región de Aysén, , '), often shortened to Aysén Region or Aisén,Examples of name usage1, official regional government site refers to the region as "Región de Aysén"., Chile's of ...

in western

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and g ...

. Steffen also worked as a

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

encyclopedist An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

and historian.

Steffen Glacier Steffen Glacier is a major outlet glacier of the Northern Patagonian Ice Field in Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region of Chile. It is the southernmost outlet glacier of the Northern Patagonian Ice Field and ends up in a lagoon fro ...

on the

Northern Patagonian Ice Field The Northern Patagonian Ice Field, located in southern Chile, is the smaller of two remnant parts in which the Patagonian Ice Sheet in the Andes Mountains of southern South America can be divided. It is completely contained within the boundaries ...

is named after him.

Biography

In 1889, Hans Steffen, who had obtained his doctorate in 1886, was invited by

José Manuel Balmaceda José Manuel Emiliano Balmaceda Fernández (; July 19, 1840 – September 19, 1891) served as the 10th President of Chile from September 18, 1886, to August 29, 1891. Balmaceda was part of the Castilian-Basque aristocracy in Chile. While he was ...

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

, where he became a teacher of history and geography at the Instituto Pedagógico de Chile of the

University of Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

(together with the Germans Alfred Beutell, Friedrich Hanssen, Friedrich Johow, Rudolf Lenz, Reinhold von Lilienthal, and Jürgen Heinrich Schneider). He was later contracted to join the Chilean boundary commission to explore areas disputed by

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in what is now the

of Chile. The areas to be explored were those affected by article 1 of the Boundary treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina: :''"The boundary between Chile and the Argentine Republic is from north to south, as far as the 52nd parallel of latitude, the Cordillera de los Andes. The boundary-line shall run in that extent over the highest summits of the said Cordilleras which divide the waters, and shall pass between the sources (of streams) flowing down to either side. …"'' This article led to dispute between whether the continental divide would serve as a boundary favouring Chile or the highest peaks favouring Argentina. The two interpretations coincided for most of the boundary but in the Aysén Region there were great differences. Before the explorations of Steffen, Chile had made only limited hydrographic surveys along the intricate Pacific coast of Aysén. The inland areas in dispute had been mainly explored by Argentines, notably Francisco Perito Moreno. Between 1893 and 1894 he explored with the

Chilean Navy The Chilean Navy ( es, Armada de Chile) is the naval warfare service branch of the Chilean Armed Forces. It is under the Ministry of National Defense. Its headquarters are at Edificio Armada de Chile, Valparaiso. History Origins and the War ...

the basins of the Palena and

Puelo River The Puelo River has its origin in Lake Puelo in Argentine, and flows north-west through the Andes into Chile and the Reloncaví Estuary of the Reloncaví Sound at the northern end of the Gulf of Ancud. Course Just downstream from its source in ...

s. He explored the Manso, Aisén and Cisnes Rivers from 1896 to 1898. He then moved on to explore the channels south of

Taitao Peninsula The Taitao Peninsula (Spanish: ''Península de Taitao'') is a westward projection of the mainland of Chile, with which it is connected by the narrow Isthmus of Ofqui, over which the natives and early missionaries were accustomed to carry their bo ...

( 46°S) mapping and describing the

Gulf of Penas The Gulf of Penas (''Golfo de Penas'' in Spanish, meaning "gulf of distress") is a body of water located south of the Taitao Peninsula, Chile. Geography It is open to the westerly storms of the Pacific Ocean, but it affords entrance to several nat ...

, and then exploring and naming Baker, Bravo and

Pascua River The Pascua River is a river located in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region of Chile. In spite of being a short river, its drainage basin is the seventh-largest in the country due to the great size of the O'Higgins/San Martí ...

s. He also crossed the Isthmus of Ofqui. Following the Pascua River, Steffen and his companions were the first to arrive at O'Higgins Lake from the Pacific as well the first to explore its western arms.

Sources

Hans Steffen Hoffman
* Carlos Sanhueza Cerda:
El objetivo del Instituto Pedagógico no es el de formar geógrafos. Hans Steffen y la transferencia del saber geográfico alemán a Chile. 1893-1907.
' In: ''Historia'' ( PUC, Santiago de Chile), Vol. 45 (2012), S. 171–197. * Thomas Gerdes, Stefan Schmidt:
Hans Steffen (1865–1936). Grenzerfahrungen eines deutschen Geografen in Chile
' (Ibero-Bibliographien, Vol. 10).

Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut The Ibero-American Institute or IAI (german: Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut, es, Instituto Ibero-Americano Patrimonio Cultural Prusiano) is an interdisciplinary institution located in Berlin, Germany, for academic and cultural exchange between Ger ...

, Berlin 2016, . {{DEFAULTSORT:Steffen, Hans 19th-century explorers Explorers of Chile German geographers German emigrants to Chile University of Chile faculty 1865 births 1937 deaths

Biography

See also

Sources