Robert Schlagintweit (24 October 1833 – 6 June 1885) 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 ...

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

who also wrote about travels in America. Brothers Hermann,

Adolf Adolf (also spelt Adolph or Adolphe, Adolfo and when Latinised Adolphus) is a given name used in German-speaking countries, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Flanders, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Latin America and to a lesser extent in vari ...

and Robert Schlagintweit were commissioned by the British

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

to study the earth's magnetic field in South and Central Asia. They were the first Europeans to cross the

Kunlun mountains The Kunlun Mountains ( zh, s=昆仑山, t=崑崙山, p=Kūnlún Shān, ; ug, كۇئېنلۇن تاغ تىزمىسى / قۇرۇم تاغ تىزمىسى ) constitute one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending for more than . In the bro ...

and the first to explore the region between

Karakoram The Karakoram is a mountain range in Kashmir region spanning the borders of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwest extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range falls under the ...

and Kunlun.

Life

The fourth of the five

Schlagintweit Schlagintweit is a surname. Notable persons with that surname include: * A German family of 5 brothers, all explorers and scholars: **Hermann Schlagintweit (1826–1882), German explorer of Central Asia **Adolf Schlagintweit (1829–1857) ** Eduar ...

brothers of

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

joined his brothers Hermann and

at an early age in their

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

researches and jointly published ''Neue Untersuchungen über die physikalische Geographie und Geologie der Alpen'' in 1854. In 1854, acting on the recommendation of

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, p ...

, the

commissioned Hermann, Adolf, and Robert to make scientific investigations in their territory and particularly to study the Earth's magnetic field. For the next three years they travelled through the

Deccan The large Deccan Plateau in South India, southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bou ...

, then up into the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

, and

. Hermann and Robert were the first Europeans to cross the Kunlun. Subsequently, Robert returned to Europe, and became a professor of geography at the

university of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (german: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is named after its most famous faculty member, Justus von L ...

in 1863. He made several trips to America between 1867 and 1870. Starting in Boston with the

Lowell Institute The Lowell Institute is a United States educational foundation located in Boston, Massachusetts, providing both free public lectures, and also advanced lectures. It was endowed by a bequest of $250,000 left by John Lowell Jr., who died in 1836. ...

with a series of twelve lectures on "Orography and Physical Geography of High Asia," he gave lectures throughout the United States. He also explored the Pacific coast. He wrote several books on American subjects, including ''Die Pacificeisenbahnen in Nordamerika'' (1870), ''Kalifornien'' (1871), ''Die Mormonen'' (1874), and ''Die Prärien des amerikanischen Westens'' (1876).

Botanical collections

Botanical specimens collected by the Schlagintweit brothers are held at several herbaria around the world, including the Philadelphia Herbarium at the Academy of Natural Sciences (PH) and

National Herbarium of Victoria The National Herbarium of Victoria ( Index Herbariorum code: MEL) is one of Australia's earliest herbaria and the oldest scientific institution in Victoria. Its 1.5 million specimens of preserved plants, fungi and algae—collectively known a ...

at the

Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria are botanical garden, botanic gardens across two sites–Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, Melbourne and Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne, Cranbourne. Melbourne Gardens was founded in 1846 when land was rese ...

. In 1853, botanist

Griseb. August Heinrich Rudolf Grisebach () was a German botany, botanist and phytogeography, phytogeographer. He was born in Hannover on 17 April 1814 and died in Göttingen on 9 May 1879. Biography Grisebach studied at the Lyceum in Hanover, the clo ...

published '' Schlagintweitia'', a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s from Europe, belonging to the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

, with its name honouring Robert Schlagintweit and his brothers Herman and Adolf.

Notes

References

;Attribution * *

Andreas Daum Andreas W. Daum is a German-American historian who specializes in modern German and transatlantic history, as well as the history of knowledge and global exploration. Daum received his Ph.D. summa cum laude in 1995 from the Ludwig Maximilian Univ ...

, ''Wissenschaftspopularisierung im 19. Jahrhundert: Bürgerliche Kultur, naturwissenschaftliche Bildung und die deutsche Öffentlichkeit, 1848–1914''. Munich: Oldenbourg, 1998, pp. 113, 388, 414, 509, including a short biography. *

External links

Die Geschichte der Brüder Schlagintweit
A detailed story of the adventures of the three brothers Hermann, Adolf and Robert in India and the Himalayas. (archived)

* Hermann, Adolph, Robert und Emil Schlagintweit Nachlass (1854 – 1857.
Weiteres Material zur Asienreise, Photographien und Zeichnungen von Menschen
'. BSB Schlagintweitiana IV.2. {{DEFAULTSORT:Schlagintweit, Hermann German explorers University of Giessen faculty 1833 births 1885 deaths Explorers of Central Asia German male writers