Josef Menges

Josef Menges (1895)

Jakob Josef Menges (born October 7, 1850 in Limburg an der Lahn ; † January 4, 1910 there ) was a German explorer of Africa .

biography

Josef Menges was a son of Joseph Menges and his wife Maria Josepha Diefenbach. His father was the last Thurn und Taxis post keeper in Limburg ad Lahn , who was actively involved in local politics and was elected mayor in 1877.

Josef Menges attended the Prorealgymnasium in Limburg and completed training as a railway official in Frankfurt am Main .

He traveled to Europe, America, Africa, Ceylon and India, not only speaking the world languages ​​English, French and Italian, but also many African dialects. To finance his research trips to Northeast Africa, he published numerous travel and research reports. Later he dedicated himself to the animal trade and supplied the European zoos with exotic animals.

Research trips

Since Josef Menges was particularly interested in Northeast Africa, he applied to Charles George Gordon , a British major general in the Egyptian province of Sudan . As its secretary, he traveled (1873–1874) the areas along the White Nile from Khartoum down to Gondokoro (Ismailia).

Josef Menges planned further research trips to the country on the Red Sea and organized scientific expeditions through North East Africa. His travel routes took him particularly to the Egyptian Sudan, the hinterland of Somalia and Abyssinia .

Menges documented the climatic conditions on his travels with daily meteorological measurements, regular altitude measurements and recording the temperature. On the basis of his itinerary records, a summarizing representation of traffic routes and roads, as well as the description of the vegetation cover and mountain formations, detailed cartographic works of the regions he traveled could be created. Together with the travel reports written by Menges, these were published in " Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen ". The journal PGM, founded by August Heinrich Petermann, was the oldest German-language specialist journal for geography, in which all important geographical discoveries of the 19th and 20th centuries were published. Newspaper founder Aug. H. Petermann (* 1822; † 1878) was also one of the most famous geographers and cartographers of the 19th century. The well-known cartographers Dr. Bruno Hassenstein (* 1839; † 1902) and Carl Barich (* 1859; † 1902), both created detailed maps of Josef Menges' trips to Africa.

Josef Menges was mainly interested in the people, their way of life and their culture in the areas of Africa he traveled to. To this end, he published numerous reports in specialist journals and was in close contact with well-known ethnologists and the museums of ethnology .

On his numerous trips, he not only got to know foreign countries and their cultures, but also the flora and fauna. As meticulously as he documented his travel routes in terms of landscape, climate and flora, he also described the animal world. He documented his experiences and findings as a researcher and zoologist in various specialist journals such as For example: " The Zoological Garden " or " Globus-illustrated magazine for countries and ethnology ".

Animal dealer

In order to provide financial support for his expeditions, Josef Menges joined forces with the Hamburg animal dealer Carl Hagenbeck as early as 1876 , providing him with information on the animal populations that were sighted, the possibilities of catching and successful transport to the coast and Europe.

Menges became a sought-after expert and supplier of zoological gardens and menageries because of his outstanding knowledge of catching, keeping and caring for wild animals. In February 1887 he took over a pet shop in Trieste and opened his own trading office here. Here he set up a quarantine station in which the animals were looked after and cared for before they began their onward journey to the European zoos. In addition to Hamburg, the zoological garden in Frankfurt became the most important transshipment point for the animal collections introduced by Menges to Europe. When on April 1, 1893, Dr. Adalbert Seitz, director of the Frankfurt Zoological Garden, he made an interim storage facility available to him so that his large animal imports could first be shown and sold in the Frankfurt Zoo.

Publications

TRAVEL REPORTS:

Josef Menges: Ride on an Egyptian Railway, 1876.

Josef Menges: The hot springs of Eilet (Abyssinia), 1877.

Josef Menges: Journey to the Egyptian Sudan, 1883.

Josef Menges: Trip to Somali Country, 1884.

Josef Menges: The caravan route between Suakin and Kasalla, 1887.

Josef Menges: Travels between Kasalla and the Setit 1888.

Josef Menges: Forays into the coastal region of Habr Auel, 1894.

REPORTS FROM THE FIELD OF ZOOLOGY

Josef Menges: Comments on the German Animal Trade of North East Africa, 1876.

Josef Menges: Some communications about the warthog (Phacochoerus Aeliani), 1876.

Josef Menges: Chase after the Mareb and Upper Choir Baraka, March – April 1881, 1884.

Josef Menges: The hippopotamus in the Hamburg zoological garden, 1882.

Josef Menges: The Introduction of the Dromedary in South Africa, 1885.

Josef Menges: Feral Camels in Arizona, 1886.

Josef Menges: Hunting excursion to northern Somaliland, 1886.

Josef Menges: Remarks on the Gazella Walleri of northern Somaliland, 1887.

Josef Menges: The Wild Ass of Somaliland, 1887.

Josef Menges: The usability of the elephant for opening up Africa, 1888.

Josef Menges: Perseverance of a Leopard, 1888.

Josef Menges: A New Somaliland Antelope, 1894.

REPORTS FROM THE FIELD OF ETHNOLOGY:

Josef Menges: The Causes of the Egyptian-Abyssinian War, 1876.

Josef Menges: The armament and warfare of the Sudanese, 1884.

Josef Menges: The bases or Kunama (on the upper Setit and Gasch), 1885.

Josef Menges: From the Somali Coast, 1885.

Josef Menges: The Inhabitants of the High Plateau of the Somali Peninsula, 1886.

Josef Menges: The Sign Language of Commerce in Arabia and East Africa, 1885.

Josef Menges: Comments on some diseases occurring in North-East Africa and their treatment by the natives, 1886.

Josef Menges: The slave trade on the Rothen Meer and the Gulf of Aden, 1888.

Josef Menges: The coastal landscape of Somaliland east of Berbera, with remarks on the consequences of English rule, 1891.

Josef Menges: Conditions in Eastern Sudan, 1894.

literature

• Monika Jung: Josef Menges - explorer, ethnologist, naturalist, zoologist and animal dealer. Cardamina-Verlag, Limburg 2017, ISBN 978-3-86424-392-9