Oskar Lenz

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oskar Lenz (around 1885)
The river basin of the Ogowe from Okandeland to the mouth of the Schebe recorded in the years 1874-1877 by Dr. Oskar Lenz in Vienna (Map: 1877)
Expedition route to Timbuktu, 1879/80, in relation to routes of other explorers (map: 1881)

Oskar Lenz (also: Heinrich Oskar Lenz ) (born April 13, 1848 in Leipzig ; † March 2, 1925 in Sooss ) was a German-Austrian Africa explorer , mineralogist and geologist .

Live and act

Lenz, the son of a shoemaker, graduated from the Leipzig Nicolaigymnasium. From 1866 he studied mineralogy and geology at the University of Leipzig and was awarded a Dr. phil. PhD . In 1870 he went to Vienna as a teacher at a private institute; In 1872 he joined the Imperial and Royal Geological Institute as a volunteer , where he was permanently employed in the same year in connection with his Austrian citizenship . He mapped southern and eastern areas of Austria-Hungary . 1874-77 he was on leave in Vienna, as an explorer in the service of the Berlin-based German Society for the Exploration of Equatorial Africa in the French colony of Gabon , where he mainly worked in the area of ​​the Ogowe River . However, Lenz had to cancel the expedition due to illness and the refusal of his black companions to go any further. On the way back he met Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza , who was completing the study of the Ogowe Basin.

From 1877 to 1879 he took part in the regional surveys in eastern Galicia ( Stryj , Bolechiw , Halytsch ), which also involved several prehistoric excavations , on behalf of the Reichsanstalt as a section geologist .

His second trip, 1879–80, brought greater success. An expedition led by Lenz crossed the Sahara from Morocco to Senegal for the first time ; The main focus of the trip was geological studies, especially the iron ore deposits suspected in northwest Africa. In Timbuktu , Lenz, who was mistaken for the son of the African explorer Heinrich Barth , was warmly received on July 1, 1880, although the general mood in the caravan city was heated and latently xenophobic because of the French advances from Senegal and Algeria towards Niger . Lenz, who, dressed appropriately, pretended to be a ( Muslim ) Turkish doctor, and his companions had been able to travel largely unmolested, but after his return to Europe, the researcher participated particularly aggressively in the anti-Islamic agitation that led to a colonial occupation of northern and should justify West Africa ideologically. Quote required. Lenz was the first European who came from the north to reach the Sengal via Timbuktu (arrival in the port of Saint-Louis on November 22, 1880). A comparable route had been covered in the opposite direction by René Caillié (1799–1838) half a century earlier.

Route of the Austrian Congo Expedition led by Oskar Lenz, 1885–87 (Map: 1890)

After lectures at geographical societies in Spain, France and Germany, Lenz was again at the Geological Reichsanstalt from mid-1881 , was now primarily concerned with geographical work and took over the editing of the monthly From all parts of the world  , was subsequently Secretary General of the kk geographical society and, on March 7, 1885, full professor of geography at the Imperial and Royal University of Chernivtsi .

However, he did not get around to taking up this position, as he was commissioned by the kk geographical society to lead an expedition leading to the newly established Congo state . Their goal should be in addition to the attempt from the top of the Congo , while off to the northeast, to reach the upper Nilgebiete findings on between the two waters existing watershed to obtain.

The main aim of this research trip, which lasted until 1887, was to determine the actual trade conditions in the Congo Free State founded in 1885 and to map the Congo River. On July 1, 1885, the expedition left on the steamer Carl Woermann von Brunswik (Kiel) (completed in 1881, scrapped in 1908 ) . The destination was the port city of Banana at the mouth of the Congo . The ship's route considered trading places at which German, British and French factories were located. The arrival in Banana took place on August 14, 1885.

Lenz concentrated primarily on geological and ethnographic studies, while his companions, initially up to his illness with diphtheria , Oskar Baumann (1864–1899), then Friedrich Bohndorff (1848–1894), were responsible for mapping the area. Adverse circumstances, especially the lack of sufficient military power , made the plan to reach the areas north of the Congo fail - however, the company managed to cross the African continent from the mouth of the Congo to the mouth of the Zambezi .

For about 1,600 kilometers of river, from Pool Malebo (near today's Kinshasa ) upstream to Kisangani  ( ), it took the research group 48 days on board the new steamer H. M. Stanley , made available by the government of the Congo State, since December 29, 1885 . In Kisangani Lenz met the slave and ivory trader Tippo Tip (1837 / 38-1905), the most influential figure in East Africa at the time, who advised him against an expedition to the highly unsafe areas north of the Congo, but for him the coming onward journey on the strongly flowing Congo (beyond the Stanley Falls ) gave three heavy canoes (6–8 rowers each) for almost free   and gave him some of his Arab followers to protect him against attacks ( anthropophagic ) natives. World icon

After (again) 48 days, the canoes reached Nynagwe ( ) ( Maniema province ), a trading place whose importance in favor of Kasongo ( ), the headquarters of Tippo Tips , was dwindling. On May 23, 1886, the expedition came to Kasongo, 15 kilometers inland - and later reached the Indian Ocean via land passages from Tanganyika to Lake Nyassa and via Shire and Zambezi on December 13, 1886 . The journey home led via Mozambique (which he reached on January 14, 1887), Zanzibar and Aden . World iconWorld icon

In March 1887 Lenz was back in Vienna, and in June the following he became a full professor at the German University of Prague , where he succeeded Dionys von Grün (1819-1896) at the chair for geography created in 1875 , established a geographic institute and established a teaching tradition reasoned. Lenz was dean in 1892/93 , rector in 1902/03 ; In 1909 he voluntarily retired .

House where you lived and where you died (Sooss, Hauptstraße 48)
Tomb in the local cemetery of Sooss

Oskar Lenz, who had acquired a property in the municipality of Sooss in 1894 , died of a stroke (one year after the death of his wife, Paula, née Ridolfi, who came from Vienna). He was buried for rest on March 5, 1925 in the local cemetery in Sooss. 

Already at the age of 70, after Georg Schweinfurth (1836–1925) and Gustav Theodor Fritsch (1838–1927), Lenz was the oldest living German explorer of Africa.

Fonts

Awards, honors, prizes

literature

  • The more recent research at the Ogowe . (Part 1). In: Mittheilungen from Justus Perthes' Geographischer Anstalt about important new research in the total area of ​​geography. Volume 24, year 1878, pp. 106-110 ( digitized version ).
  • The more recent research at the Ogowe . (Part 2). In: Mittheilungen from Justus Perthes' Geographischer Anstalt about important new researches in the whole field of geography . Volume 24, year 1878, p. 426 ff. ( Digitized version ).
  • Lenz, Oskar . In: Friedrich Embacher: Lexicon of trips and discoveries. (…) First section: biographies of the explorers from the oldest times to the present . Meyer's specialist dictionaries. Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1882, pp. 186–187 ( digitized version ).
  • Franz Ritter von Le Monnier:  The Austrian Congo Expedition. In:  Mittheilungen der Kaiser (lichen) Königigl (ichen) Geographical Society , year 1885, volume 28/1885, pp. 225–232. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / geo.
  • Franz Ritter von Le Monnier:  The Return of the Austrian Congo Expedition. In:  Mittheilungen der Kaiser (lichen) Königigl (ichen) Geographical Society , year 1887, Volume 30/1887, pp. 1–5. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / geo.
  • Dr. Oskar Lenz, traveler to Africa. In: Fernschau. Yearbook of the Central Swiss Geographical-Commercial Society in Aarau. Volume 3, 1889, ZDB -ID 802547-2 , pp. LXI-LXIV ( digitized version ).
  • From the Congo to the Zambesi. Report on the Austrian Congo expedition in the years 1885–1887. In: Fernschau. Yearbook of the Central Swiss Geographical-Commercial Society in Aarau. Volume 3, 1889, ZDB -ID 802547-2 , pp. 91-121 ( digitized version ).
  • Anton Krispin:  Local News. A visit to Hofrat Oskar Lenz. In:  Badener Zeitung , No. 21/1914 (XXXVth year), March 14, 1914, p. 3 f. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / bzt.
  • Martin Mueller: Oskar Lenz on the 100th birthday on April 13, 1948. Scientific publishing company, Stuttgart 1949, ÖNB .
  • Karl Adalbert Sedlmeyer : Oskar Lenz, Africa researcher and Prague university professor. In: Bohemia , Volume 6, 1965, ZDB -ID 1166-6 , pp. 400-426 ( digitized version ).
  • Jaroslav Vávra:  Lenz, Oskar. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 5, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1972, p. 140.
  • Josef R. Krammer: The Africa explorer Oskar Lenz . Term paper University of Vienna, Vienna 1979 (unprinted).
  • Hans Weis: In memory of Oskar Lenz's journey through Morocco, the Sahara and Sudan in the years 1879–1880. In: Communications of the Austrian Geographical Society. Volume 127, 1985, ZDB -ID 206039-5 , pp. 158-169.
  • Karin Elisabeth Lorber: Society and economy in the travel and research reports of Oskar Lenz (1848-1925). An Austrian's view of pre-industrial life in Africa. Diploma thesis Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt 2007 (unprinted).
  • Alexander Brandt, Paul Kainbacher : Austrian researchers and travelers in Africa before 1945. A biography and bibliography from A-Z . 2nd edition, Kainbacher, Baden 2010, ISBN 3-9501302-7-6 , pp. 107–116 (with complete list of publications; digitized version ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hofrat Heinrich Oskar Lenz †. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Abendblatt (No. 21720/1925), March 3, 1925, p. 3, bottom center. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp.
  2. ↑ On the appearance of Jurassic structures in Bohemia. Dissertation, University of Leipzig. Gebauer-Schwetschke, Halle on the Saale 1870. - ( digitized ).
  3. ↑ In the course of this year (...) are in the Imperial and Royal Geological Institute. In:  Local-Anzeiger der "Presse" , supplement to No. 337/1872 (XXV. Year), December 7, 1872, p. 9, center left. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / maintenance / apr.
  4. ↑ a b Dr. Oskar Lenz, Africa traveler , S. LXI.
  5. ↑ a b Jaroslav Vávra:  Lenz Oskar. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 5, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1972, p. 140.
  6. ↑ Dr. Oskar Lenz, Africa traveler , S. LXII.
  7. ↑ Dr. Oskar Lenz, Africa traveler , S. LXIII.
  8. ↑ Features. The murder of the painter Joseph Ladein in Africa. In:  Wiener Abendpost. Supplement to Wiener Zeitung , No. 237/1880, October 14, 1880, p. 5, top left. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / wrz.
  9. ↑ Little Chronicle. (...) Africa research. In:  Wiener Zeitung , No. 292/1880, December 19, 1880, p. 8, top right. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / wrz.
  10. ↑ FH:  Nature and Ethnology. Dr. Oskar Lenz in Timbuktu. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Abendblatt, No. 5851/1880, December 11, 1880, p. 4. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp.
  11. ↑ From all parts of the world. Illustrated family sheet for geography and ethnology. Date of publication: 1.1869 / 70 (1870) - 29.1898. Paetel, Berlin, ZDB -ID 130145-7 .
  12. ^ Annual report of the director D. Stur . In: Negotiations of the Imperial Geological Institute . No. 1/1886, ISSN  0016-7819 . Hölder, Wien 1886, p. 2. - Text online (PDF; 3.8 MB)  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.geologie.ac.at  
  13. ↑ Daily news. (...) Austrian congo expedition. In:  Das Vaterland , No. 180/1885 (XXVIth year), July 3, 1885, p. 4 center. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / possibly.
  14. ↑ Little Chronicle. (...) Austrian congo expedition. In:  Wiener Zeitung , No. 107/1885, May 10, 1885, p. 3, center left. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / wrz.
  15. ^ Oskar Lenz:  From the Austrian Congo Expedition. In:  Salzburger Chronik für Stadt und Land / Salzburger Chronik / Salzburger Chronik. Tagblatt with the illustrated supplement “Die Woche im Bild” / Die Woche im Bild. Illustrated entertainment supplement to the “Salzburger Chronik” / Salzburger Chronik. Daily newspaper with the illustrated supplement “Oesterreichische / Österreichische Woche” / Österreichische Woche / Salzburger Zeitung. Tagblatt with the illustrated supplement “Austrian Week” / Salzburger Zeitung , No. 247/1885 (XXI. Volume), October 31, 1885, p. 1. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / sch.
  16. ↑ a b Dr. Oskar Lenz, Africa traveler , S. LXIII.
  17. ↑ (...) After a long stay in the lower Congo (...) . In: A. Supan (Ed.): Dr. A. Petermanns Mitteilungen , Volume 32.1886, p. 60, top left. - text online .
  18. ↑ From the Congo to the Zambesi , p. 98.
  19. ↑ From the Congo to the Zambesi , p. 100 f.
  20. ↑ From the Austrian congo expedition. In:  Das Vaterland , No. 322/1886, November 22, 1886, p. 3, bottom right. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / possibly.
  21. ↑ a b From the Congo to the Zambesi , p. 104.
  22. ↑ From the Congo to the Zambesi , p. 120.
  23. ↑ Green, Dionys von. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 2, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1959, p. 86.
  24. ↑ Dionys Grün: "Geography as an independent science", given as an inaugural lecture at the inauguration of the newly created chair for geography at the Imperial and Royal University of Prague on May 1, 1875. Calve, Prague 1875, OBV .
  25. ↑ Eugen Oberhummer : Oskar Lenz † . In: Paul Langhans (Ed.): Dr. A. Petermanns Mitteilungen , Volume 71.1925, p. 119, top left.
  26. ↑ Little Chronicle. (...) Councilor Oskar Lenz. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Morgenblatt, No. 19264/1918, April 13, 1918, p. 8 middle. (Online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp
  27. ↑ Local news. Councilor Dr. Oskar Lenz. In:  Badener Zeitung , No. 15/1923 (XLIV. Volume), April 13, 1923, p. 2, center right. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / bzt;
    Correspondence. (...) Sooss. (Death.). In:  Badener Zeitung , No. 14/1924 (XLV. Year), April 4, 1924, p. 5 middle. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / bzt.
  28. ↑ News from the area. (...) Sooss. (Death.). In:  Badener Zeitung , No. 18/1925 (XLVI. Volume), March 4, 1925, p. 5, top center. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / bzt.
  29. ↑ Court and staff news. (...) Councilor Oskar Lenz. In:  Fremd-Blatt with military supplement Die Vedette , evening edition, No. 98/1918 (LXXII. Year), April 13, 1918, p. 2, center left. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / fdb.
  30. ^ Vienna, February 23. Court and staff news. In:  Local-Anzeiger der "Presse" , No. 54/1878 (XXXI. Year), February 24, 1878, p. 7 (unpaginated), top left. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / maintenance / apr.
  31. ↑ Official. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Abendblatt (No. 5285/1925), May 14, 1879, p. 3, bottom center. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp.
  32. ↑ Awards . In: Journal of the Society for Geography in Berlin . Mittler, Berlin 1910, p. 45 (appendix).
  33. ^ Report on my research trip to Africa. In:  Mittheilungen der Kaiser (Erlichen) and König (lichen) Geographical Society in Vienna , year 1881, Volume 24/1881, p. 244. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / geo.
  34. ↑ Official. (...) Court and staff news. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Abendblatt, No. 6126/1881, September 17, 1881, p. 3, top left. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp.
  35. ↑ Little Chronicle. (...) Awards. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Abendblatt, No. 6222/1881, December 22, 1881, p. 1, bottom center. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp.
  36. ↑ Little Chronicle. (...) Hof- und Personal-Nachrichten. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Morgenblatt, No. 6365/1882, May 17, 1882, p. 3, top right. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp.
  37. ^ Members (...) Oskar Lenz . In: leopoldina.org , accessed on January 11, 2016.
  38. ↑ Little Chronicle. (...) Court and staff news. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Morgenblatt, No. 19265/1918, April 14, 1918, p. 8, center right. (Online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp

Remarks

  1. ^ Departure from Marseille on November 6, 1879. - Behm: Dr. A. Petermann's communications . Volume 26, year 1880, p. 319 bottom left, online .
  2. ↑ Arrival in Médine  ( ), Mali (see: French Sudan ), on November 2, 1880. - Behm: Dr. A. Petermann's communications . Volume 26, year 1880, p. 469 center left, online ; The expedition ended at St.-Louis-de-Sénégal on November 20, 1880. - Behm: Dr. A. Petermann's communications . Volume 27, year 1881, p. 189 top left, onlineWorld icon
  3. ↑ The report of the safe arrival in Zanzibar initially led in relevant circles to the assumption (with disparaging comments) that Lenz had crossed Equatorial Africa , as was already common at that time ; a success that meant the complete failure of Lenz's originally planned voyage of discovery. - See: (...) On January 14th, Prof. Dr. O. Lenz arrived safely in Zanzibar (...) . In: Supan (Ed.): Dr. A. Petermanns Mitteilungen , Volume 33.1887, p. 57, bottom right. - text online .
    Even after the route actually chosen became known, the recognition of Lenz's performance was limited. - See: (...) Prof. Dr. O. Lenz has his return journey to the east coast (...) . In: Supan (Ed.): Dr. A. Petermanns Mitteilungen , Volume 33.1887, p. 124, bottom left. - text online .
  4. ↑ A year later, the chair for geography was filled with Alfred Grund (1875–1914). - See: Ed (uard) Brückner :  † Professor Dr. Alfred Grund. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Morgenblatt, No. 18044/1914, November 17, 1914, p. 12, center left. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp.
  5. ↑ Then : Sooss No. 28; today: Hauptstraße 48. The building, now used as the town hall, is known locally as the Paulahof . - From: Viktor Wallner : The Lower Austrian district of Baden and its communities. A publication of the municipalities of the administrative district of Baden. Historical, current, worth knowing, statistical . Niederösterreichische Verlagsgesellschaft, Wiener Neustadt 1995, OBV , p. 214.
  6. ^ Lenz 'first work for the Neue Freie Presse . - See: The commemoration of the “New Free Press”. (...) University professors, civil servants, doctors and lawyers. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Morgenblatt, No. 17968/1914, September 2, 1914, p. 1 center. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Lenz, Oskar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lenz, Heinrich Oskar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Austrian Africa explorer, mineralogist and geologist
DATE OF BIRTH April 13, 1848
PLACE OF BIRTH Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH March 2, 1925
Place of death Sooss , Lower Austria