Georg von Prittwitz and Gaffron

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Georg von Prittwitz and Gaffron (born June 17, 1861 in Breslau ; † 1936 ) was a German colonial officer, most recently a lieutenant colonel and Africa explorer.

Life

Georg was the son of Robert von Prittwitz and Gaffron, then President of the Silesian Province . In the years 1871–1879 he attended the Maria Magdalena High School in Breslau . This was followed by service in the Prussian Army , of which he was a member until 1913.

In 1885 Prittwitz and Gaffron took part in an official expedition to Cameroon . The German theologian and explorer Bernhard Schwarz was commissioned by the Foreign Office in Berlin to secure the hinterland of German Cameroon for Germany and to research it as much as possible. In addition to Prittwitz and Gaffron, he was accompanied by the merchant Fritz Angerer and Knutzen, along with 35 drivers.

From 1891 to 1894 he attended the War Academy in Berlin . In 1893 he traveled to the northern part of central Asia Minor on a three-month research trip.

With the intention of exploring Central Africa , Gustav Adolf von Götzen set out with Prittwitz and Gaffron and the doctor Hermann Kersting on December 21, 1893 from Pangani on the German-East African coast and marched through the areas of the Maasai , North Uniamwesi and Usuwi . On May 2, 1894, the expedition members crossed the Kagera and went into Rwanda, which until then had only been touched by Oskar Baumann in 1892 on the eastern edge. They climbed one of the highest peaks of the Kirunga Mountains , the Msumbiro and the still active volcano Kirunga-tscha-gongo . On June 29, Götzen decided to advance west through the jungle of Uregga . After great exertion they reached the Congo at Kirundu on September 21 and Matadi on November 29, near the mouth of the great river in the Atlantic .

In 1908 Prittwitz and Gaffron received the Silver Gustav Nachtigal Medal from the Society for Geography in Berlin for his longstanding cartographic services in East Africa. In 1911 he resigned as a member of the protection force for German East Africa . In 1921 Prittwitz and Gaffron began studying geography, geology, botany, mineralogy and philosophy at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin , which he finished in 1929.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Albert Gouaffo: knowledge and cultural transfer in the colonial context: the case of Cameroon-Germany (1884-1919). Königshausen & Neumann, 2007, p. 82. ( Online at Google Book Search ).
  2. ^ In the river area of ​​the Halys. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Prittwitz and Gaffron, Georg von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German colonial officer and Africa explorer
DATE OF BIRTH June 17, 1861
PLACE OF BIRTH Wroclaw
DATE OF DEATH 1936