Eugen Zintgraff
Eugen Zintgraff (born January 16, 1858 in Düsseldorf , † December 4, 1897 in Tenerife ) was a German Africa explorer and colonial propagandist .
Life
Zintgraff studied after attending the Düsseldorf high school in Berlin, Bonn, Strasbourg and Heidelberg, initially law , and since 1883 natural sciences . Since 1879 he was a member of the Corps Suevia Strasbourg .
In March 1884 Zintgraff went with an Austrian expedition under Joseph Chavanne to the lower reaches of the Congo . Returning in November 1885, he undertook his first expedition to Cameroon on behalf of the Foreign Office in March 1886 . There he explored the course of the Wuri River with Karl Zeuner . They got to the Jabassi cataract . In January 1888, in the north of the colony , they founded the Barombi station at the Elephant Lake . In the course of the year Zintgraff made a few more advances, in May to Batom and in July up to 6 ° north latitude and 10 ° east longitude to the upper reaches of the Old Calabar in the land of the Banyang .
In January 1889 Zintgraff started his famous expedition to the Benue . He was the first European to break through the jungle belt that separated Cameroon from the inland areas and entered the highlands of Bali in the grasslands of western Cameroon , where he moored the Baliburg station . At the end of May he reached the Benue at Ibi . Later he reached the highlands of Adamaua .
Zintgraff recovered from the rigors of the journey in Germany, but on November 20, 1890, set off again for Barombi with equipment organized by the government. He was accompanied by Lieutenant von Spangenberg and Paul Preuss as well as by a trading caravan equipped by the Hamburg company Jantzen & Thormählen.
After a failed war campaign against Bafut and Mankon in early 1891, Zintgraff returned to Europe and gave up colonial service. From 1893 to 1894 he traveled to Zanzibar , German and Portuguese East Africa and the gold fields of Transvaal in South Africa . In 1896 he went back to northern Cameroon with Esser and participated in the founding of the West African Planting Society Victoria (WAPV).
Eugen Zintgraff returned from Africa sick and died on December 4, 1897 in Tenerife.
His activity in Cameroon was controversial. The treatment of its bearers was considered brutal and earned him the criticism of the governor Eugen von Zimmerer and the colonial director Paul Kayser, the latter also represented in the Reichstag. After returning from the expedition against Bafut, he was temporarily banned from entering Cameroon.
Zintgraff was a member of the Berlin Society for Anthropology, Ethnology and Prehistory .
Works
- North Cameroon. Description of the travels undertaken on behalf of the Foreign Office to develop the northern hinterland of Cameroon during the years 1886-1892 . Berlin (1895)
literature
- Friedrich Ratzel: Zintgraff, Eugen . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 45, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1900, pp. 336-338.
- EM Chilver: Zingraff's Explorations in Bamenda, Adamawa and the Benue Lands 1889-1892 , Buea 1966
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kösener Corpslisten 1930, 103 , 11
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Zintgraff, Eugene |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German Africa researcher and colonial propagandist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 16, 1858 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Dusseldorf |
| DATE OF DEATH | 4th December 1897 |
| Place of death | Tenerife |