Friedrich Wilhelm Alexander von Mechow

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Friedrich Wilhelm Alexander von Mechow (born December 9, 1831 in Lauban , † March 15, 1904 in Jugenheim ) was a Silesian-Prussian major , collector and Africa explorer .

Life

Mechow received his education in the cadet corps , took part in the German War in 1866 and in the war against France in 1870/71 , where he was seriously wounded in the battle of Wörth . In 1874 he took his leave as a major.

From 1873 to 1875 he participated in the first German Loango - Expedition under Paul Güssfeldt . He undertook the second major trip between 1879 and 1882 in Angola , where he explored the middle reaches of the Kwango , discovered what was then known as the Kaiser-Wilhelms-Fall and followed the river up to the Kingunschi stone bar . However, he did not reach the actual destination of the Congo River. The collected animals came to Berlin in 1882, where they were edited by Jean Louis Cabanis in 1882 and 1884 in the “Journal für Ornithologie” and from 1900–1901 were included in Anton Reichenow's famous publications on African bird fauna. He also collected plants.

Works

  • Maps of my Kuango expedition. 28 sheets. Berlin.

literature

  • Beatrix Heintze: A Prussian major in the heart of Africa. Alexander v. Mechow's expedition diary (1880-1881) and his project for a first German colony , Berlin: Reimer 2018 (Studies on Cultural Studies; 133), ISBN 978-3-496-01604-5 .

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