Carl Neumann (geographer)

Carl Neumann (also Karl Johann Heinrich Neumann , born December 27, 1823 in Königsberg (Prussia) , † June 29, 1880 in Breslau ) was a German geographer and historian .

life and work

Carl Neumann, the son of a master baker, was originally supposed to be a primary school teacher. In 1838 he left the teacher training college and went to the Kneiphöfische Gymnasium . From 1842 to 1846 he studied history at the Albertus University in Königsberg , especially with Wilhelm Drumann and Friedrich Wilhelm Schubert . Since he was almost penniless, he was initially unable to pursue an academic career and instead worked as a tutor in Tarputschen with the von Saucken family and at Steinort Castle with Count Karl von Lehndorff .

During the revolutionary years of 1848/49 Neumann got involved with the constitutional party with pamphlets and newspaper articles. In 1851 he took over the editing of the Hartungsche Zeitung in Königsberg. In 1852 he moved to the editorial office of the Constitutionellen Zeitung in Berlin . In this position he was hostile to the reactionaries , involved in trials and harassed by the police. He only secured his right of residence in Berlin after two years, when Wilhelm Prince of Prussia stood up for him personally.

Thanks to his journalistic work, Neumann was financially able to continue his historical studies. In 1852 he submitted a dissertation on the history of the city of Olbia on the Black Sea at the University of Königsberg , with which he was awarded a Dr. phil. received his doctorate . Over the next three years he worked on a book about The Hellenes in the Scythian Land , the first (and only) volume of which appeared in 1855. The work was received very benevolently by the world of scholars: It brought Neumann into contact with the geographers Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Ritter and, above all, with the publishers of geographical specialist journals who wanted Neumann to act as editor. Neumann turned down the offer from the Perthes publishing house in Gotha and opted for the magazine for geography , the quality of which he raised to the level of the Gotha competition over the next few years.

The Prussian government also recognized Neumann's achievements. In 1860 she appointed him associate professor at the University of Breslau , but without sending him there. Instead, Neumann worked as an unskilled worker in the State Ministry under Rudolf von Auerswald and in the Foreign Office under Albrecht von Bernstorff . From autumn 1862 Neumann applied for permission to take up his teaching post in Breslau, which he was granted after a second application in spring 1863.

In November 1863 Neumann started as an associate professor at the University of Breslau. His teaching position included the subjects of geography and ancient history , and he tried to represent the various subjects in their full breadth. In addition, he left his journalistic activity almost entirely on hold and concentrated entirely on preparing the lectures. His position was converted to a full professorship in 1866 after he had refused a transfer to the University of Greifswald .

Carl Neumann died of emphysema in 1880 at the age of 57 . His students Joseph Partsch , Theodor Liebisch , Eberhard Gothein and Gustav Faltin now tried to make his life's work accessible to the public. From the estate they published a history of Rome during the fall of the republic (2 volumes, 1881–1884) with an appendix on The Age of Punic Wars (1883), an essay on The Limits of the Alps (1882) and the textbook Physical Geography by Greece (1885).

Fonts (selection)

• De rebus Olbiopolitanorum . Königsberg 1852 (dissertation).
• The Hellenes in the Scythian Land. A contribution to ancient geography, ethnography and trade history . First volume (no longer published), Berlin 1855.
• History of Rome during the fall of the republic. From the age of Scipio Aemilianus to the outcome of the Catilinarian conspiracy . 2 volumes, Breslau 1881–1884.
• The borders of the Alps . In: Journal of the German and Austrian Alpine Club . Volume 13 (1882), pp. 189-229.
• The age of the Punic Wars . Wroclaw 1883.
• with Joseph Partsch: Physical geography of Greece with special consideration for antiquity . Wroclaw 1885.

literature

• Joseph Partsch :  Neumann, Karl . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1886, pp. 530-532.
• Franz Kupferschmidt: Karl Neumann. A contribution to the history of scientific geography in the 19th century . Leipzig 1935.

Web links

Wikisource: Carl Neumann  - Sources and full texts