Friedrich Konrad Hornemann

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Friedrich Konrad Hornemann (born September 15, 1772 in Hildesheim , † February 9, 1801 in Boknane , Nigeria ) is one of the first successful explorers of the London African Association, along with Mungo Park .

Early life

The day of Hornemann's birth is not entirely certain, but it can be narrowed down, as there is no great delay between birth and baptism . According to the church register of the Andreas Church in Hildesheim , the Protestant baptism, named Friedrich Conrad, took place on September 20, 1772 in his parents' house. It is obvious that the father performed the baptism.

Andreanum high school in Hildesheim

His father Friedrich Georg Hornemann was first pastor at St. Andreas . His mother Katharina Dorothea Juliane geb. Crome (March 13, 1744– March 15, 1799) came from the family of the consistorial councilor and general superintendent Friedrich Andreas Crome in Alfeld . Friedrich Hornemann grew up with two older sisters and a younger brother and attended the Andreanum grammar school , where his father also taught. When he died (July 2, 1787), Friedrich came into the care of his uncle Ludwig Gottlieb Crome , Rector of the Johanneum in Lüneburg , who lived with his large family in financial need. One of the cousins ​​was Georg Ernst Wilhelm Crome .

Hornemann's school days ended in spring 1791. On May 5th of that year he entered the register of Georgia Augusta in Göttingen as a theology student . After the winter semester of 1793/1794, he completed his studies and taught as a private tutor and at a school in Hanover .

Joseph Banks

In March 1796 at the latest, Hornemann asked the Göttingen natural scientist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach for a recommendation to Joseph Banks , President of the Committee of The African Association for Promotion the Interior of Africa . A relationship of trust existed between Blumenbach and Banks, which Hornemann built on. Following a long-cherished wish, he decided to travel to "unknown regions of the world". The defined goal was to accompany a caravan from Cairo to the home countries and to explore the largely unknown geographical conditions in Europe.

Thanks to Blumenbach's influence, Hornemann was given the opportunity to conduct targeted studies in Göttingen through a financial grant from the African Association. He learned the Arabic language , local regulations to calculate astronomical basis, discussing in detail with the geography of Africa . There are clues that suggest physical training.

In December 1796, Hornemann felt adequately prepared for his tasks and informed the African Association that he would be able to travel from Cairo to Katsina in just a few weeks . In London it was decided to first get to know him personally, to instruct him and to define conditions.

Africa trip

Hornemann left Göttingen in mid-February 1797, drove to Cuxhaven by mail coach and to London by mail boat . Details, tasks, reimbursement of costs and fees for the African trip were agreed. But it would then take almost four months before his onward journey via Paris to Marseille could begin. From there, on August 11, 1797, a ship under a neutral flag (the first coalition war was raging in Europe ) continued to Larnaka in Cyprus and from Limassol to Alexandria . A good five weeks later Hornemann arrived in Bulaq , the Nile port at the gates of Cairo.

Murzuq Fortress

There, as agreed, he made himself acquainted with the unfamiliar environment, completed his language skills, assumed the identity of a Mamluk and made contacts with caravan traders and pilgrims . A plague epidemic made this task difficult. The occupation of Egypt by the French army initially seemed to threaten his plan. But then General Napoléon Bonaparte supported him and he was able to join a caravan on September 5, 1798. She moved through the Qattara - sink , over the oases of Siwa and Audschila through the Libyan desert and reached after nearly two months Murzuq .

This most important trading place of the Fessan was on the Transsahara route, which led from Tripoli in the western Sudan . Hornemann stayed in Murzuk for several weeks, then went to Tripoli for a short time to write and send out his travel reports. At the end of January 1800 he returned to Murzuq. There he joined a merchant from Bornu . Together with him, said Hornemann in his last letter of April 5, 1800, he wanted to move south in a caravan the following day.

It was only around 20 years later that the first news of his presumed fate reached Europe. Afterwards he almost reached the lower reaches of the Niger , was considered a marabou , but eventually died of dysentery .

Hornemann's reports on his observations on the way from Cairo to Murzuq as well as on the explorations of the countries in western Sudan were evaluated in London and contributed significantly to the improvement of the geographical map of North Africa. His description of Siwa confirmed a conjecture made only recently by William George Browne that he had found the Ammon oasis known from ancient writings.

In 1802 and the following year, Hornemann's reports were published together with commentary by other authors, first in London, then in French translation and in two German publishers as a so-called diary of his journey. Since then the texts have been reprinted several times. A reprint of the Weimar edition from 1802 was published in 1997 by Verlag Olms.

News of death

A letter sent by Joseph Ritchie, the British Vice Consul from Murzuk, on Aug. 25, 1819, made Hornemann's presumed death a certainty. Government councilor Blumenbach in Hanover put an end to the speculations circulating in Germany about the missing traveler to Africa in 1821 with the article “Last news of Hornemann's death ...” in the Fatherland Archives . Since then, Bokane (Bokana, Bokani) in Hausaland has been his last place of residence. The year of death, generally given as 1800, cannot be deduced from this news. The annual remuneration paid to Hornemann's siblings as heirs by the African Association in 1802 speaks for 1801 .

Bokane

More recently, Fr. Winterhager suggested searching for the geographical location of the place of death with a statement and drew attention to the area north of Rabba in Nigeria . A current search result: At 9 ° 29'18.2 N 5 ° 12'14.3 E is the place Bokanj, near the Mokwa-Bokani-Kontangora-Road, only about 35 km from Hornemann's destination Niger .

Fonts

(English, French and German first editions)

  • The Journal of Frederick Hornemann's Travels, from Cairo to Murzouk, the Capital of the Kingdom of Fezzan, in Africa, in the Years 1797-8 , London 1802. ( digitized version )
  • Voyage dans l'intérieur de l'Afrique, par Fréderic Hornemann, pendant les annés 1797, 1798, Traduite de l'anglais… , Paris (André) 1802. ( digitized )
  • Fr. Hornemann's diary of his trip from Cairo to Murzouk, the capital of the Kingdom of Fessan in Africa, in 1797 and 1798, from the German manuscript of the same, edited by Carl König , Weimar 1802 ( digitized )

literature

  • Friedrich Gottlieb Crome : Friedrich Konrad Hornemann. In: Friedrich August Koethe (Ed.): Contemporaries. Biographies and characteristics . Row 1, Vol. 1, 3rd department, Leipzig & Altenburg: Brockhaus, 1816, pp. 133–157 ( digitized version )
  • Friedrich Ratzel :  Hornemann, Friedrich Konrad . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 13, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1881, p. 149 f.
  • Gerhard Engelmann :  Hornemann, Friedrich. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-428-00190-7 , p. 638 ( digitized version ).
  • Dirk Kemper: Hornemann, Friedrich Konrad. In: Hildesheimer Literaturlexikon from 1800 to today. Hildesheim, Zurich, New York: Olms, 1996, ISBN 3-487-10238-2 , pp. 113–116 ( excerpt from Google Books )
  • Herward Sieberg, Jos Schnurer (Ed.): “I am completely African and here I am at home…”, FK Hornemann (1772–1801), encounters with West and Central Africa through the ages, Hildesheim Symposium 25.-26. September 1998 . (Hildesheim University Writings, Volume 7). Hildesheim 1999, ISBN 3-9805754-7-0
  • Rolf Schulte: Browne and Hornemann in the Siwa oasis. In: Gerhard Meier-Hilbert, Jos Schnurer (eds.): Friederich Konrad Hornemann in Siwa, 200 years of African research , Hildesheim 2002 (Hildesheimer Universitätsschriften, Volume 11), ISBN 3-934105-02-5 , pp. 149–161.
  • Gerhard Meier-Hilbert, Jos Schnurer (Ed.): Encounter in Chad - yesterday and today. Third Hildesheim Hornemann Symposium . (Hildesheimer Universitätsschriften, Volume 13). Hildesheim 2004, ISBN 3-934105-04-1

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Audjila see also English Wikipedia en: Awjila
  2. ↑ Vaterländisches Archiv or contributions to the general knowledge of the Kingdom of Hanover ... (1821) Vol. 4, pp. 32–327
  3. ↑ Hornemann did not quite reach Niger. In: Searching for traces in Africa research. (Eds. Busse, Meier-Hilbert, Schurer) Oldenburg 2007, pp. 173–176
personal data
SURNAME Hornemann, Friedrich Konrad
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Africa explorer
DATE OF BIRTH September 15, 1772
PLACE OF BIRTH Hildesheim
DATE OF DEATH February 9, 1801
Place of death Boknane , Nigeria