Johann Karl Ehrenfried Kegel

Johann Karl Ehrenfried Kegel

Johann Karl Ehrenfried Kegel (* 3. October 1784 in Rammelburg ; † June 13 ^{. Jul} / 25. June  1863 ^greg. In Odessa ), a German was an agronomist and researcher of the peninsula Kamchatka .

Life

Johann Karl Ehrenfried Kegel received his education at the cathedral school in Halberstadt and then studied at the commercial college in Copenhagen. Encouraged by his wife's uncle, the doctor and Russian State Councilor Melchior Adam von Merz ( Saint Petersburg ), Kegel went to Russia in the winter of 1826/27.

In 1841 he was commissioned by the Russian Ministry of Domain Economics to explore the interior of Kamchatka and examine possibilities for agriculture and mining. After crossing Siberia, he embarked in Okhotsk and ended up shipwrecked in Kamchatka.

From Petropavlovsk he made several trips of several months inland. In order to explore the soil conditions and to carry out test sowing, he did this in the summer half of the year, although at this time of the year the paths were hardly passable and traveling was extremely strenuous. In his reports he not only describes the flora, fauna, soil conditions and geology of the country, but also describes the life of the people of Kamchatka. He recognized the potential wealth of the land with good management and discovered natural resources. At the same time he made suggestions for improving the living conditions of the locals, whose oppression and exploitation he repeatedly denounced.

The corrupt administration, which was not interested in the development of the country but in increasing its own wealth through the fur trade, hated Kegel. He was feared that he was incorruptible and harassed with all possible means. Nevertheless, he completed his work and in 1847 returned to Saint Petersburg in bad health, having escaped death several times. His reports, which are considered to be the most accurate from this period, could not be published during his lifetime because that would have meant the loss of freedom or something worse for him.

Johann Karl Ehrenfried Kegel died in Odessa in 1863 .

literature

• Werner Friedrich Gülden (Ed.): Research trip to Kamtschatka - Travels and experiences of Johann Karl Ehrenfried Kegel from 1841 to 1847 . Böhlau-Verlag, 1992, ISBN 3-412-11091-4
• Werner Friedrich Gülden (Ed.): Research trip to Kamtschatka - Travels and experiences of Johann Karl Ehrenfried Kegel from 1841 to 1847 . With contributions by Hanno Beck and Erich Kasten . Fürstenberg: Siberian Cultural Foundation , 2011, ISBN 978-3-942883-80-1 ( PDF ; 5.9 MB)