Erwin von Bary

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Erwin von Bary (born February 22, 1846 in Munich , †  October 2, 1877 in Ghat ) was a traveler to Africa.

Erwin von Bary

After graduating from high school in 1864, he studied medicine at the Wilhelmsgymnasium in Munich in Leipzig and Zurich , participated in the Franco-Prussian War as a doctor in 1870 and moved to Valletta on Malta in 1872 to prepare for an expedition through the Sahara to today's Nigeria . Before he was already involved in natural science, he made a preparatory tour from Tripoli to the Gorian Mountains in the autumn of 1875 , then started a new journey to Tassili n'Ajjer in August 1876 and in October reached the caravan town of Ghat , which was shortly before taken by Turkish troops had been occupied. Therefore v. Bary as a Turkish doctor so as not to arouse suspicion among the Tuareg of the hinterland. From Ghat he visited the famous Miherothal with its crocodile swamps , returned to Ghat and in January 1877 advanced south to the Aïr . His attempt to follow in the footsteps of Heinrich Barth (1821–1865) in Sudan as far as Sokoto failed because of the resistance of the Tuareg who lived there, who saw him as a Turkish spy and feared that the Ottoman Empire would take possession of their land . Returning to Ghat again in the autumn of 1877, he suddenly died here on October 2nd . Again and again there was speculation about whether von Bary was murdered. But the evidence, e.g. B. his diary entries indicate a serious illness and exhaustion. The travel writer and translator Erica de Bary , who had stayed in Ghat several times and for long periods, published his travel diary.

Bary's son Alfred von Bary (1873–1926) was one of the most important hero tenors on the operatic stage at the turn of the century and excelled above all as an interpreter of roles in Richard Wagner's musical dramas. He was a celebrated Lohengrin and Tristan at the Bayreuth Festival , but also sang in Dresden and Munich.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Annual report from the K. Wilhelms-Gymnasium in Munich. ZDB ID 12448436 , 1863/64

Publications

Articles by Barys can be found in geographic journals, his diary in the journal of the Society for Geography in Berlin (1880, issue 1).

literature

personal data
SURNAME Bary, Erwin von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German doctor and Africa traveler
DATE OF BIRTH February 22, 1846
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH October 2, 1877
Place of death Ghat