Karl Klaus from the ceiling
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/Karl_Klaus_von_der_Decken_%281833-1865%29_German_explorer.jpg/220px-Karl_Klaus_von_der_Decken_%281833-1865%29_German_explorer.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Karl_Klaus_von_der_Decken_%281833-1865%29AfrikaForscher.jpg/220px-Karl_Klaus_von_der_Decken_%281833-1865%29AfrikaForscher.jpg)
Karl Klaus von der Betten , also Carl Claus von der Betten (born August 8, 1833 in Kotzen , Brandenburg , † October 2, 1865 near Baardheere , Somalia ) was a German explorer and traveler to Africa. He was also active as a botanist and dealt with ferns , his botanical author abbreviation is blankets .
Life
Karl Klaus von derdecke was a member of the noble family von derdecke . His father was Ernst Carl von der Betten (1796–1846) on Melkof , his grandfather was the royal Hanoverian Prime Minister Claus von derützen (1742–1826). His mother Adelheid, b. von Stechow (born September 25, 1807, † August 24, 1868) married Hans Heinrich X. von Hochberg , Prince of Pless, in their second marriage on January 29, 1848 after the death of Ernst Carl von derillen. Julius von der Betten (1827–1867) was his older brother.
Having had given up on the ceiling of his career in the military, he explored excited by Heinrich Barth , the Eastern Africa . His first expedition in 1860 took him to the Lake Malawi region . The goal of opening up East Africa together with the geographer Albrecht Roscher was prevented by the early death of Roscher in 1860 on Lake Malawi. In the following year von der Deckens and the British geologist Richard Thornton (1838–1863) reached the 5895 m high Kilimanjaro - 13 years after the first (European) sighting by the German missionary Johannes Rebmann , whose discovery they confirmed. Von derdecke and Thornton explored the mountain on this expedition up to a height of about 1580 m . Another year later, in 1862, von derdecke returned to Kilimanjaro to be the first European to dare to climb the mountain. It reached an altitude of about 4,300 m , then the onset of snowfall forced it to give up. The adventurer then explored the Pangani at the foot of Kilimanjaro . On his trip in 1862, von derdecke was accompanied by Otto Kersten (1839–1900), who after his return home wrote a six-volume work on his companion's two Kilimanjaro expeditions. Later von derdeck organized a large expedition to explore the Tana , the longest river in Kenya .
His last expedition to Somalia in 1865 was to explore the Juba River . He drove up the Juba with two specially designed river steamers that were built in Hamburg, shipped in parts and assembled in Zanzibar . One of the ships, the Passepartout , was already lost in the mouth . The big steamer Welf was shipwrecked in the rapids above Baardheere (Bardera) . After a camp was set up, the team got into a fight with angry Somali people , and von derdecke and many of his people lost their lives. Other members of the crew managed to save themselves and brought the news to Zanzibar. The report on the failed expedition is considered an important ethnological source on southern Somaliland.
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/11/Karl_Klaus_von_der_Decken_Flussdampfer-Welf.jpg/220px-Karl_Klaus_von_der_Decken_Flussdampfer-Welf.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/Van_der_Decken%27s_Sifaka_in_Namoroka.jpg/170px-Van_der_Decken%27s_Sifaka_in_Namoroka.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/08/Kilimandscharo_O._Kersten_Reisen_in_Ost-Afrika.jpg/220px-Kilimandscharo_O._Kersten_Reisen_in_Ost-Afrika.jpg)
Honors
In 1864 Karl Klaus von der Betten received the Patron's Medal from the Royal Geographical Society in London .
An East African bird from the order of the Rackenvogel (Coraciiformes) was named in honor of Karl Klaus von der Blankets , the "Von-der-Decken-Toko" (also " Blanket Toko ", Tockus blanket ).
A species of lemur in Madagascar is named after him: Von-der-Ceiling Sifaka .
A species of lobelia that occurs on Kilimanjaro and other mountains in East Africa is named after him, Lobeliadeckii .
One of the ice fields (Rebmann, Ceiling, Kersten, Heim and Bailetto glaciers) on the southern slope of Mount Kilimanjaro was named in his honor.
Financing the expeditions and the works
The costs of the five-year expeditions can be estimated according to the information on the costs of the porters, which von derdeck describes in a letter to Heinrich Barth . The brother and mother supported the research trips and the publication of the six-volume travelogues. After the death of the traveler's father in 1846, his mother married Adelheid geb. von Stechow (1807–1868) in 1848 the imperial count Hans Heinrich X. von Hochberg , since 1848 Prince of Pless , who was previously married to her sister Ida (1811–1843), who died after the birth of the third child. The Princes of Pless owned coal mines in Silesia in addition to the large Fürstenstein Castle . Karl Klaus von derdeck's family owned several goods that had been acquired by their grandfather, the Hanoverian Minister Claus von der Betten . He grew up in Melkof Castle near Ludwigslust in Mecklenburg , which his older brother Julius von der Betten (1827-1867) inherited and managed. Other goods such as Eickhof in Liebenau (Lower Saxony) near Nienburg / Weser were sold in order to finance the trips, among other things.
Works
The following travelogues (1st + 2nd narrative and 3rd + 4th scientific volumes) were published after the death of the traveler on behalf of his mother, Princess Adelheid von Pless :
- Travels in East Africa from 1859 to 1865, Carl Claus von der Betten edited by Otto Kersten , Volume 1, Narrative Part 1869 online , also: Reprint 1978 with a foreword by Dietmar Henze, 335 pp.
- Travels in East Africa from 1859 to 1865, Carl Claus von der Betten, edited by Otto Kersten , Volume 2, Narrative Part 1871 online , also: Reprint 1978 with a foreword by Dietmar Henze, 454 pp.
- Travels in East Africa from 1859 to 1865, Carl Claus von der Betten , edited by WCHPeters , J.Cabanis , F.Hilgendorf , ... Volume 3, Scientific Part, First Department of Mammals, Birds, Amphibians, Fish ,. .. 1869 online1 online2 169 p.
- Travels in East Africa in the years 1859 to 1865, Carl Claus von der Betten, edited by Adolph Gerstaecker , Volume 3, Scientific Part, Second Section Articulated Animals (Insects, Arachnids, Myriopods and Isopods) 1873 [1] 544 pp.
- Travels in East Africa from 1859 to 1865, Carl Claus von der Betten, edited by Alexander Sadebeck , Volume 3, Scientific Part, Third Geology Department; Botany; Meteorology; astronomical, geodetic and altitude measurements; magnetic observations; History tables; Literature review 1879 424 pp.
- Travels in East Africa in the years 1859 to 1865, Carl Claus von der Betten , edited by O.Finsch and G.Hartlaub Volume 4, scientific part, Die Vögel Ost- Afrikas , 1870 online 900 p. 15 drawings of the birds from this Band in WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
- Travels in East Africa from 1859 to 1865, Carl Claus von der Betten, narrative and scientific part, all 6 volumes reprinted Saarbrücken 2006 (PDF; 1.3 MB)
- Adolph Gerstaecker , C. Cooke, Otto Kersten & Karl Klaus von der Betten: The articulated animal fauna of the Zanzibar area. According to Dr. O. Kersten during the material collected by the Decker East African Expedition in 1862 and by C. Cooke on the island of Zanzibar in 1964 . CF Winter'sche Verlagshandlung, Leipzig & Heidelberg, 1873, [2] 542 p., 18 color plates.
Smaller contributions
- Journal of General Geography . - Berlin: Reimer, NF 10 (1861), pp. 133-136 excerpt from a letter from Baron Carl von derdecke to his mother, Princess Adelheid von Pless, as well as a letter from the same to Dr. Barth Heinrich Barth Oct. 1860
- Journal of General Geography . - Berlin: Reimer, NF 10 (1861), pp. 229–230 Excerpt from von Decken's letters to Dr. H. Barth Heinrich Barth Nov. 1860
- Journal of General Geography . - Berlin: Reimer, NF 12 (1862), pp. 73–81 Letter from Baron vd Betten to Dr. H. Barth on his trip to Kilimandjaro and its true character. Nov. 1861
- Journal of General Geography . - Berlin: Reimer, NF 14 (1863), pp. 348-350 Excerpt from a letter from Baron Carl von der Betten to Dr. H. Barth Jan. 1863
- Journal of General Geography . - Berlin: Reimer, NF 14 (1863), pp. 245–247 Description of the mountain species from East Africa sent by Herr von derdecke, mostly from the foot of Kilimandjaro by Heinrich Barth
literature
- Volker Matthies (Ed.): Death on Juba. The steamship expedition of the Baron von der Betten into the land of the Somali (1865) Oceanum , Wiefelstede, 2014, 1st edition, ISBN 978-3-86927-135-4
- Hermann Schreiber : A ship travels across Africa. The story of a German expedition , Scherl-Verlag 1940 (= Adler-Bücherei , Bd. 2) 125 p. With many illustrations, the Africa expedition of the baron and colonial pioneer von derdecke with the ship Welf
- Dietmar Henze: Enzyklopädie der Entdecker und Erforscher der Erde , 6 volumes 1975, Volume 2, pp. 33-37
- Julius Löwenberg : Blankets, Klaus von der . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 2 f.
- Bernard Verdcourt: Collectors in East Africa - 31st Baron Carl Claus von der Betten 1833–1865 Text extracted from The Conchologists' Newsletter, No. 162, pp. 204–211 published September 2002
- Communications from Justus Perthes ' geographical institute about important new researches on the total area of geography by A. Petermann , 1866 pp. 66–77, Downfall of the v. The ceiling expedition, September 1865 - With an overview of the travels of Baron v. of the blankets on the east coast of Africa, 1860 to 1865
- Communications from Justus Perthes ' geographical institute about important new researches in the total area of geography by A. Petermann , 1863 Volume 9 pp. 99-102 Baron von der Decken's and Otto Kersten's trip to Kilimanjaro 1862
- Communications from Justus Perthes ' geographical institute about important new investigations in the total area of geography by A. Petermann , 1863 Volume 9 p. 313 News about von der Decken's third trip to East Africa
- Richard Thornton: In: "Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London", Volume 6 1861–1862 by Royal Geographical Society (Great Britain) pp. 47–51 Expedition to Kilimanjaro (accompanied by the Baron von der Betten)
- Richard Thornton: In: "American journal of science: the first scientific journal in the United States: devoted to the geological sciences and to related fields", 1862 Volume 34 pp. 87-89 Kilimanjaro, the Snow Covered Equatorial Peak of Africa
- Bruno Schelhaas and Ute Wardenga: " Bringing the main results of travel to your eyes" - or: How to make the world visible using maps . In: Christian Berndt and Robert Pütz [Hrsg.]: Cultural geography: to deal with space and place after the cultural turn . Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2007. pp. 143–166 (here p. 155 ff .: mentioned as "Baron Claus von der Betten"). ISBN 978-3-89942-724-0 .
- Vincenzo Meleca, Il misterioso relitto del fiume Giuba , in http://www.ilcornodafrica.it/st-meleca%20relitto%20giuba.pdf
- Michael Heinrich Schormann: From the Reiherstieg to the Djuba River. Sketches for the paddle steamer Welf and for the Hanoverian Africa traveler Carl Claus vddecke , in Thomas Schwark , Kathleen Biercamp (Red.): Interpretations, meanings. Contributions to Hanover's urban and regional history. Festschrift for Waldemar R. Röhrbein on the occasion of his 75th birthday (= writings of the Historisches Museum Hannover , Volume 38), Hannover: Historisches Museum, 2010, ISBN 978-3-910073-39-5 , pp. 96–123
Web links
- Literature by and about Karl Klaus von derdecke in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ↑ August Petermann : Foreword , in: Baron Carl Claus von der Deckens̓ Travel in East Africa in the years 1859 to 1865. Volume 1, Gotha 1869, p. XII
- ↑ a b Dietmar Henze: Enzyklopädie der Entdecker und Erforscher der Erde, 1975 Volume 2, pp. 33–37
- ^ Gary Firth: in Target 1992 Livingstone was impressed by Thornton's early work
- ↑ The Geological Society of London , Geoscientist August 2011, article on Richard Thornton: Mr Thornton, I presume?
- ↑ Carl Claus von der Betten, edited by Otto Kersten , Reisen in Ost-Afrika in the years 1859 to 1865, Volume 2, Narrative Part 1871, p. 52
- ↑ Allgemeine Zeitung München, supplement from Oct. 8. 1865 p. 4561 - Vienna Oct. 2. - Mrs. v. the Decken's expedition to East Africa
- ^ Paul Reichard German East Africa. The country and its people. Its political and economic development, Leipzig 1892: ND Bremen 2010, pp. 112–113
- ↑ Volker Matthies (Ed.): Death on Juba. The steamship expedition of Baron von derdecke to Somali land (1865). Deutsches Schiffahrtsarchiv 35, 2012, supplement, ISBN 978-3-86927-135-4
- ↑ List of gold medalists of the Royal Geographical Society , there medals for 1864
- ↑ Mount Kilimanjaro Wiki there: Glacier decay
- ^ Journal of General Geography . - Berlin: Reimer, NF 10 (1861), p. 230 Excerpt from von Decken's letters to Dr. H. Barth Heinrich Barth Nov. 1860
- ↑ Dietmar Henze: Foreword to Reprint 1978 and Otto Kersten : Foreword to Volume I in Travel in East Africa 1859 to 1865 Carl Claus von der Betten, p. XII
- ↑ Herwart and Thassilo from the ceiling: family tables of the family from the ceiling , 1994 p. 106
- ↑ Thassilo von der Betten and Claudia Bei der Wieden: Guts und Höfe der Familie von der Betten , Stade 1998 p. 147
- ↑ database Niedersächsische people there looking with: Name ceiling Carl
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Blankets, Karl Klaus from the |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Blankets, Carl Claus from the |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German explorer and Africa traveler |
DATE OF BIRTH | August 8, 1833 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Kotzen , Brandenburg |
DATE OF DEATH | October 2, 1865 |
Place of death | near Baardheere , Somalia |