Paul Sprigade

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Paul Sprigade (born November 9, 1863 in Militsch , Province of Silesia , † March 17, 1928 ) was a German cartographer who was best known for maps of the German colonies .

Life

Paul Sprigade was the son of the arable citizen Karl Sprigade and his wife Johanna Sprigade, nee. Huebner. He attended the Friedrichsgymnasium in Breslau , which he left due to the financial situation of his parents' house after obtaining the lower primary level . On April 1, 1883, he joined Dietrich Reimer's cartographic institute in Berlin , headed by Richard and Heinrich Kiepert , and trained as a cartographer. From October 1, 1886 to September 30, 1887 he was a one-year volunteer lieutenant in the reserve.

Colonial cartography

From 1892 he dealt in particular with colonial cartography and in 1895 was co-editor of the Small German Colonial Atlas . In 1899, together with his colleague Max Moisel , he took over the development and subsequent management of the Colonial Cartographic Institute . Like the cartographic institute (since 1891), this facility was also part of Ernst Vohsen's company . However, commissioning and maintenance lay with the Reich Colonial Office . At the beginning of the First World War the institute employed around 60 cartographers and draftsmen. Sprigade issued numerous colonial and special maps of the German protected areas. He specialized in mapping the German colony of Togo . For his map of Togo, he evaluated route recordings from 15 years.

Study trip through Togo

Map of Togos from the German Colonial Lexicon, edited by Paul Sprigade and Max Moisel

In 1907 Sprigade undertook a study trip to Togo that lasted several months and was financed by the German Colonial Society . On January 5, 1907, he left the port of Hamburg on board the ship Erna Woermann and reached Lome on January 22, 1907 . Sprigade took part in the opening of the Lomé – Kpalimé railway on January 27, 1907, and in the subsequent national exhibition in Palime . He traveled by coastal tram to Anecho and on to the border with the neighboring French colony of Dahomé, today's Benin . He traveled north, visited Atakpame, and continued on foot to Sokode and Bassari . The return journey to the coast took place via Kete-Kratschi in present-day Ghana , which he reached on March 4, 1907, and Misahöhe .

With the support of the governor, Julius von Zech auf Neuhofen , Sprigade was able to complete his journey in an unusually short time and at high speed: According to his report, arrangements had already been made for arrival and onward travel in many places. During the trip he tested new mapping methods in the field. One of the main things he learned from the trip was that the altitude in the hinterland of Togo, in particular, was not yet adequately represented on the previous maps.

Further life

From 1909 Sprigade was a part-time teacher at the Berlin Seminar for Oriental Languages . He prepared colonial officials and officers of the protection force for expeditions by teaching the technique of route mapping. After the dissolution of the Colonial Cartographic Institute on April 1, 1920, Sprigade was an unskilled worker in the Reich Ministry of Reconstruction and geographical advisor in the compensation office of the central colonial administration. On October 1st, 1920 he joined the Foreign Office . There he was employed in the foreign trade office, in the cartographic office of the foreign trade intelligence service and from 1926 at the same time in Department III (British Empire, America, Orient). On March 31, 1926, his employment in the Foreign Office ended.

On January 15, 1924, he was from the University of Hamburg , the honorary doctorate conferred the natural sciences.

family

Sprigade had been married since August 1, 1895. The marriage resulted in a daughter (Charlotte) who was born on August 16, 1896.

Publications (selection)

  • Map of Togo 1: 200 000, 10 sheets, until 1908.
  • Map of German East Africa , 1: 300,000, 29 sheets (together with Max Moisel).
  • Large German Colonial Atlas , 35 sheets, Berlin 1901–1915 (together with Max Moisel).

literature

  • Rudolf Hafeneder: German Colonial Cartography 1884–1919. Dissertation, Universität der Bundeswehr München, 2008 ( online ; the attachments contain biographical information on Paul Sprigade on p. 166).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Foreign Office (Ed.): Biographical Handbook of the German Foreign Service 1871–1945. Volume 4: S, Paderborn / Munich / Vienna / Zurich: Ferdinand Schöningh, 2012, ISBN 978-3-506-71843-3 , p. 314 f.
  2. ↑ a b c Imre Josef Demhardt: The unveiling of Africa. Gotha / Stuttgart: Klett-Perthes, 2000, ISBN 3-623-00355-7 , p. 78 ff.
  3. ↑ Paul Sprigade: A trip to Togo. In: Deutsche Kolonialzeitung . Volume 24 (1907), Issue No. 17 of April 27, 1907, pp. 169 ff. (With map).
  4. ↑ Paul Sprigade: A trip to Togo (circuit). In: Deutsche Kolonialzeitung . Volume 24 (1907), Issue No. 19 of May 11, 1907, pp. 191 ff.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Sprigade, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German cartographer
DATE OF BIRTH November 9, 1863
PLACE OF BIRTH Milicz , Province of Silesia
DATE OF DEATH March 17, 1928