Ferdinand von Richthofen

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Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthofen (1833-1905) was a German traveller, geographer and scientist.

[edit] Biography

He was born in Carlsruhe, Silesia and was educated in Berlin. In travelled or studied in Tirol, Transylvania. In 1860 he joined the Eulenburg Expedition, a Prussian expedition which visited Ceylon, Japan, Taiwan, the Celebes, Java, the Philippines, Siam, Burma between 1860 and 1862. From 1862 - 1868 he worked as a geologist in the United States discovering Goldfields in California. This was followed by several more trips of China, Japan, Burma and Java. He published his geographical, geological, economic, and ethnological findings in three volumes with an atlas. In China he located the dried-up lake bed of Lopnur.

He was also Professor of Geology at Bonn beginning in 1875. Professor of Geography at the University of Leipzig 1883, and Professor of Geography at the Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin 1886. Among his most famous students was Sven Hedin, the Swedish explorer. He served as President of the German Geographical Society for many years, and founded the Berlin Hydrographical Institute.

He is noted for coining the term the Silk Road in 1877.

He died in 1905 in Berlin.

When William Gill consulted him about a planned trip to China, he remarked:

“

Hour after hour he gave up his valuable time to me, and opened volumes from his rich store of information. … Baron von Richtofen possesses in a remarkable manner the faculty of gathering up the details presented to his view; putting them together and generalising on them with rare judgement; forming out of what would be to a lesser genius, but scattered and unintelligible fragments, a uniform and comprehensive whole … not one hint was given me that did not subsequently prove its value; his kind thoughts for my comfort and amusement were never ceasing, and his refined and cultivated intellect and genial manner rendered the recollections of my stay in the German capital some of the most pleasant of my life.

”

Ferdinand von Richthofen was an uncle of the World War I flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, best known as the "Red Baron".

The mountain range on the southern edge of the Gansu corridor in western China was named Richthofen Range after him, although the modern name is now Qilian Mountains.

[edit] Publications

• Comstock Lode: Its Character, and the Probable Mode of Its Continuance in Depth (1866)
• China: The results of My Travels and the Studies Based Thereon (1877-1912, 5 vols. and atlas)

[edit] Notes

Note regarding personal names: Freiherr is a title, translated as Baron, not a first or middle name. The female forms are Freifrau and Freiin.