Sylvain Meinrad Xavier de Golbéry

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Sylvain Meinrad Xavier de Golbéry (born September 24, 1742 in Colmar , † June 13, 1822 in Paris ) was a French genius officer and geographer .

Life

Golbéry entered the engineering school École royale du génie of Mézières in the Ardennes in 1770 and was a. a. responsible for the restoration of the fortifications of Landau in the Palatinate carried out in 1773 . When Stanislas de Boufflers (1738–1815) - like Golbéry of Alsace-Lorraine origin - was appointed governor of the French colony of Senegal in 1785 , Goldbéry, at that time a captain in the engineering corps of the French army, traveled to West Africa as its first adjutant . There he undertook on the orders of the French King Louis XVI. extensive research trips, the results of which he reported in letters in 1791, but mainly in the two-volume work Fragmens d'un voyage en Afrique . In addition to his own observations, he also incorporated the communications of other travelers into these recognized writings. These fragments did not come out until 1802 because of the turmoil of the French Revolution (Golbéry was in exile during the Revolution), but then appeared at the same time in multiple editions and also in English and German translations.

Golbéry was awarded the Order of Saint Louis in 1815 and entered the Hôtel des Invalides on April 21, 1818 in the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel . On August 10, 1820 - still appointed librarian at this institution - he died there two years later at the age of almost 80.

Fonts

  • Lettres sur l'Afrique. Paris 1791.
  • Fragmens d'un voyage en Afrique fait pendant les années 1785, 1786 et 1787 dans les contrées occidentales de ce continent, comprises entre le cap Blanc de Barbarie [...] et le cap de Palmes [...]. 2 volumes. Paris 1802 ( digitized ).
  • Considérations sur le département de la Roer suivies de la notice d'Aix-la-chapelle et de Borcette. Aix-la-Chapelle 1811 ( digitized ).

literature

  • Bibliography de la France ou Journal Général de l'Imprimerie et de la Librairie. 14, 1825, pp. 680 and 808.
  • Théodore-François-Xavier Hunkler: History of the city of Colmar and the surrounding area. Colmar 1838, p. 259 f.
  • Anne Blanchard: Dictionnaire des ingénieurs militaires, 1691–1791. Montpellier 1981, pp. 334-335.
  • Jean-Marie Schmitt: Sylvain Meinrad Xavier de Golbéry . In: Nouveau dictionnaire de biographie alsacienne Faszikel 13, 1988, p. 1222.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Golbéry, Sylvain Meinrad Xavier de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Golbéry, Sylvain de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French officer of genius and geographer
DATE OF BIRTH September 24, 1742
PLACE OF BIRTH Colmar
DATE OF DEATH June 13, 1822
Place of death Paris