Johann Friedrich Goldbeck (22 September 1748 – 9 April 1812) was a German

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

and

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

. Goldbeck was born in

Insterburg Chernyakhovsk (russian: Черняхо́вск) – known prior to 1946 by its German name of (Old Prussian: Instrāpils, lt, Įsrutis; pl, Wystruć) – is a town in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, where it is the administrative center of C ...

East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label= Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...

. He first visited the Latin school in his home town InsterburgA. E. Henning: ''Topographisch-historische Beschreibung der Stadt Insterburg''. Königsberg 1794
p. 32.
/ref> and thereafter, from 1761 to 1764, the

Collegium Fridericianum The Collegium Fridericianum (also known as the Friedrichskolleg, Friedrichskollegium, and Friedrichs-Kollegium) was a prestigious gymnasium in Königsberg, Prussia. Alumni were known as ''Friderizianer''.Gause, p. 716 History Postcard ca. 1930 ...

(''Friedrichskollegium'') in

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was ...

. Since 1764 he studied theology at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg (german: Albertus-Universität Königsberg) was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke Albert of Pruss ...

. In 1769 he was appointed as a private tutor by a

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

n nobleman, whom he accompanied in 1771 on a journey to the town of

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebu ...

. In 1772 he became a teacher at Kloster Berge school located in the vicinity of Magdeburg. One year later he became an army chaplain in the infantry regiment ''v. Rohr'' (No. 15) in Graudenz. In 1783 he was nominated as a senior minister of the parish of Schaaken, Landkreis Königsberg, East Prussia. After he had published some articles on theological and pedagogical topics, he edited since 1781 his ''Litterarischen Nachrichten von Preußen'' (Literary news from Prussia) which consist of two parts and which are in use still today. His most important work is the ''Vollständige Topographie des Königreichs Preußen'' (Complete topography of the Kingdom of Prussia) (1785 und 1789), which consist of two parts. Part I covers all departments, towns and

Amtsbezirk Amtsbezirk is a German language designation for a country subdivision. It was used in Prussia from 1874 until 1945 and in the canton of Bern The canton of Bern or Berne (german: Kanton Bern; rm, Chantun Berna; french: canton de Berne; it, C ...

e of East Prussia, Part II covers all departments, towns and Amtsbezirke of West Prussia. Goldbeck was an honorary member of ''Königliche Deutsche Gesellschaft zu Königsberg'' (Royal German society in Königsberg). He died on 9 April 1812 in Schaaken.

Works (selection)

* ''Über die Erziehung der Waisenkinder: allen wohlthätigen Fürsten und grosmüthigen Menschenfreunden gewidmet'', 1781. * ''Nachrichten von der königlichen Universität zu Königsberg in Preußen und den daselbst befindlichen Lehr-, Schul- und Erziehungsanstalten''. Graudenz 1782
Online, Google
. * ''Litterarische Nachrichten von Preußen'' ** Part I, Leipzig and Dessau 1781

. ** Part II, Leipzig and Dessau 1783
Online, Google
* ''Volständige Topographie des Königreichs Preußen''. ** Part I: ''Topographie von Ost-Preußen'', Marienwerder 1785
Online, Google
; ''Volständige Topographie vom Ost-Preußischen Cammer-Departement''
Online, Google
; ''Volständige Topographie vom Littthauischen Cammer-Departement
Online, Google
** Part II: ''Topographie von West-Preußen'', Marienwerder 1789
Online, Google)
''Volständige Topographie vom West-Preußischen Cammer-Departement''
Online, Google

Literature

* ''Altpreußische Biographie'' (Christian Krollmann, ed.), Vol. 1, Elwert, Marburg/Lahn 1974.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldbeck, Johann Friedrich 1748 births 1812 deaths People from Insterburg German cartographers Prussian Army personnel People from East Prussia 18th-century German people 18th-century geographers