John Wood (explorer)

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John Wood (* 1812 in Perth , Scotland , † November 14, 1871 ) was a British naval officer , explorer , geodesist and cartographer , who became known for his exploration of Central Asia .

John Wood was born in Perth, Scotland. After attending a private secondary school, the Perth Academy, he joined the Navy of the English East India Company (The Honorable East India Company's Marine) , where he soon proved to be extremely useful and successful thanks to his great talent for field surveying and cartography. Numerous maps of South Asia that he created remained in use in seafaring throughout the 19th century.

At the age of 22, he commanded the first steamship to sail up the Indus in 1835 , and Wood, "a rather bizarre and unknown naval lieutenant," measured the river for several hundred miles. Four years later, on behalf of the East India Company, he again sailed the Pamir River far beyond its area of ​​influence to Lake Zorkul , which he believed to be the source of the Oxus River , i.e. the Amu Darya, and which was then named Wood's Lake after him . He was the first European in the Pamir Mountains since Bento de Goës (1562–1607) , and it was Wood to whom the name “ roof of the world ” for the Pamir highlands goes back in the west , because in 1838 he reported that the “ native expression Bam-i-Duniah or Roof of the World ”(probably from the Iranian Wachi dialect) is common for this. And about the small people of the Wachani in the narrow Wachan Valley in northwestern Afghanistan : "The Wakhani's herds make up his wealth, or rather enable him to endure the hardships that life in the barren high valley is exposed to."

On behalf of the East India Company, Wood was by no means able to stay on board or in the vicinity of his ship, but also undertook arduous marches into far-flung areas. In 1837 he also visited Sar-e-Sang , the largest lapis lazuli mine in the world in the Kocha Valley, which is 500 meters above the river, at a point where the valley is only 70 meters wide. "If you don't want to die, avoid the Kochatal," he wrote about this tour in his book three years later. Due to the weather, his attempt to visit the ruby ​​mines in the Gharan district of Badakhshan was unsuccessful , but he provided a detailed description, albeit second-hand.

For a long time, Wood's informative travelogue is an illustration of Marco Polo's journey. The Royal Geographical Society in London honored his work in 1841 by awarding its gold medal (" Patron's Medal ") to Lieutenant John Woods, who was just 29, "for his trip to the source of the Oxus and for valuable work on the Indus".

After his research voyages in Central Asia, Wood left the Navy of the English East India Company. Not yet thirty years old and probably driven by his desire for further adventures, he went to New Zealand for a year. Although he bought some land there, he evidently had no intention of settling down as a settler, but rather regarded his property as an investment. Although he traveled up to the Hutt Valley and the Kapiti Coast , Wood, who had earned a reputation as an explorer, never visited the South Island and never traveled to the north of Wellington , but spent most of his time in that town. Returning to England, he wrote his second book, Twelve Months in Wellington , which appeared in 1843 and at first glance looks like a guide for future settlers. However, it becomes clear from the first few paragraphs that it is a scathing criticism of the New Zealand Company and a warning of the perils and difficulties that await possible hopeful emigrants. Wood then went back to India and settled in the northeastern province of Sindh , which is now part of Pakistan . In 1871 he decided to return to Great Britain for good. Before that, he made one last trip to Simla in Punjab , where he fell ill. He survived the voyage to England, but died a few days after his arrival on November 14, 1871.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Across the Pamir. Death in the Morning. The story of George JW Hayward
  2. ^ Robert Middleton, Huw Thomas and Monica Whitlock: Tajikistan and the High Pamirs. A Companion Guide , Odyssey Publication, Hong Kong 2008.
  3. ^ John Keay: When Men and Mountains Meet: The Explorers of the Western Himalayas, 1820-1875 , Oxford University Press, Oxford-London 1983, ISBN 0-19-577465-5 , ISBN 0-7126-0196-1 , pp. 153.
  4. ^ John Wood : A Journey to the Source of the River Oxus . Ed .: John Murray . London 1972, p.  373 (English, online [accessed January 18, 2016]).
  5. ↑ Lapis lazuli - History: In the smugglers' stronghold ( Memento of the original from September 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / glimmerdream.com
  6. ↑ Richard W. Hughes: The Rubies and Spinels of Afghanistan - A brief history (English)
  7. ↑ John Wood in the Notable Names Database (English)
  8. ^ Royal Geographical Society: List of gold medal recipients
  9. ^ Wellington City Library: Description of Woods Twelve Months in Wellington
  10. ↑ Wellington City Library: Description of Woods Twelve Months in Wellington (English)
personal data
SURNAME Wood, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish explorer and cartographer in Asia
DATE OF BIRTH 1812
PLACE OF BIRTH Perth , Scotland
DATE OF DEATH November 14, 1871