Hermann von Wissmann (geographer)

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Hermann von Wissmann (born September 2, 1895 in Etzweiler ; † September 5, 1979 in Zell am See ) was a German-Austrian Arab researcher and professor of geography .

Life

The member of the noble von Wissmann family and son of the African explorer Hermann von Wissmann , born in 1895, studied, interrupted by military service, in Jena, Gießen and Munich, dissertation with Erich von Drygalski , first came out with a research paper on the mountain farming problem in the Ennstal . Between 1931 and 1939 he undertook several expeditions to southern Arabia with Daniel van der Meulen (1894–1989) , which should be one of his main research areas. He studied the ancient geography and history of this area and developed a chronology of ancient southern Arabia . He is considered the most important advocate of the so-called Long Chronology , which dates the beginnings of the Sabaean Empire in the 8th century BC. Chr. Dated.

Wissmann, who for a while also explored the southern Chinese province of Yunnan , was one of the last explorers in the style of the Second Age of Discovery : He undertook long caravan journeys, on which he worked with a compass and a step-by-step measure and recorded what he saw with a pencil. Most recently, until his retirement in 1958, he was Professor of Geography at the University of Tübingen . His extensive estate is in the Tübingen University Library (manuscript department, shelf marks Md 1092 and Md 1093).

honors and awards

In 1940 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina .

In 1944 Hermann von Wissmann received the Carus Medal from the Leopoldina.

Publications

  • The rural settlement and desertification of the middle Ennstal. A contribution to the settlement geography of the Eastern Alps. In: Petermann's Geographische Mitteilungen 3, 4 (1927), pp. 65-69.
  • South Yünnan as part of Southeast Asia , Heidelberg et al. 1943.
  • with Maria Höfner : Contributions to the historical geography of pre-Islamic South Arabia (= treatises of the humanities and social sciences class of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz. Born 1952, No. 4). Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz, Mainz 1953.
  • On the history and regional studies of old South Arabia. (Eduard Glaser Collection, No. III = Austrian Academy of Sciences, Philosophical-Historical Class, Meeting Reports, Volume 246) Böhlaus, Vienna 1964.
  • Arabia. Documents on the history of discovery , Volume 1, Stuttgart 1965.
  • The history of the Sabaean empire and the campaign of Aelius Gallus , in: Hildegard Temporini, Rise and Fall of the Roman World. II. Principate. Volume ninth, first half volume , De Gruyter, Berlin, New York 1976, pp. 308-544.
  • Sa'kalan, Samarum and Mos-cha , the land of frankincense , Vienna 1977.
  • The story of Saba. II. The great empire of the Sabeans up to its end in the early 4th century BC. Chr. (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Philosophy and history class. Proceedings, Vol 402, ed. By Walter W. Müller) Publisher of Austrian Academy of Sciences Vienna, Vienna 1982, ISBN 3-7001-0516-9 .

literature

  • Helmut Blume , Hermann von Wissmann's contribution to research on Arabia , in: GZ 68 (1980), pp. 161–172
  • Friedrich Huttenlocher , Weg und Werk Hermann von Wissmanns , in: A. Leidelmair (ed.): Hermann von Wissmann-Festschrift, Tübingen 1962, pp. 11–34.
  • A. Leidelmair; Hermann von Wissmann in commemoration , in: MÖGG 122 (1980), pp. 148–153.
  • Daniel van der Meulen, With Hermann von Wissmann in South Arabia , in: Leidelmair (ed.): Hermann von Wissmann-Festschrift, Tübingen 1962, pp. 35–41

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ [1] Federal Archives, Central Database of Legacies. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
  2. ^ Member entry by Hermann von Wissmann at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on December 28, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Wissmann, Hermann von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Austrian Arab researcher and geographer
DATE OF BIRTH September 2, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Etzweiler
DATE OF DEATH 5th September 1979
Place of death Zell am See