Friedrich Wilhelm Sievers (3 December 1860 – 11 June 1921) was a German

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althoug ...

and

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 ...

. He served as professor of

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

at the

University of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (german: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is named after its most famous faculty member, Justus von ...

. His field work focussed on

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

, and his ''Allgemeine Länderkunde'' was for several decades a standard work on world geography.

Biography

Sievers was born into a merchant family in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. He was educated at

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

, and

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

, and was made '' Privatdozent'' at Würzburg in 1887 after extensive travels in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

and Colombia. In his education, he broke with his mercantile family's tradition in order to study the emerging academic field of geography. He was one of Ferdinand von Richthofen's first students. On instructions from the Geological Society of Hamburg made three expeditions to South America to carry out geographical and geological studies on the different regions of the country inspired by the expeditions of

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, ...

. Sievers mainly focusing on documenting evidence for a South American

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

. In 1902, from the chatedra of Geography of the University of Giessen, he made public his opposition to the naval blockade that Germany, England and Italy imposed on Venezuela to force the collection of the foreign debt. In 1909, he established the

headwaters The headwaters of a river or stream is the farthest place in that river or stream from its estuary or downstream confluence with another river, as measured along the course of the river. It is also known as a river's source. Definition The ...

of the Marañón, the main source of the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

river. Wilhelm Sievers published the ''Allgemeine Länderkunde'' (several editions 1891-1935), which for several decades was the leading international geographical publication covering all

continent A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas t ...

Journeys

* 1884-1886: Colombia and

* 1891-1893: Venezuela * 1909:

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

and

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

Selected works

South America

* ''Reise in der Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta'', 1887 * ''Venezuela'', 1888 * ''Die Cordillere von Mérida, nebst Bemerkungen über das Karibische Gebirge'', 1888 * ''Zweite Reise in Venezuela in den Jahren 1892-93'', 1896 * ''Die Quellen des Marañon-Amazonas'', 1910 * ''Reise in Peru und Ekuador, Ausgeführt 1909'', 1914

''Allgemeine Länderkunde''

* ''Allgemeine Länderkunde: Erste Ausgabe in fünf Bänden'', First edition in five volumes, 1891–95 * ''Allgemeine Länderkunde: Zweite Ausgabe in sechs Bänden'', Second edition in six volumes, 1901–05 * ''Allgemeine Länderkunde: Kleine Ausgabe in zwei Bänden'', Compact edition in two volumes, 1907 * ''Allgemeine Länderkunde: Dritte Ausgabe in sechs Bänden'', Third edition 1914 (Due to the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, this edition remained incomplete) * ''Allgemeine Länderkunde: Begr. von W. Sievers'', Third/fourth edition, 1924–35

Other publications

* ''Über die Abhängigkeit der jetzigen Konfessionsverteilung in Südwestdeutschland von den früheren Territorialgrenzen'' ( Dissertation), Göttingen 1884. * ''Zur Kenntnis des

Taunus The Taunus is a mountain range in Hesse, Germany, located north of Frankfurt. The tallest peak in the range is '' Großer Feldberg'' at 878 m; other notable peaks are ''Kleiner Feldberg'' (825 m) and '' Altkönig'' (798 m). The Taunus range span ...

'', Stuttgart, 1891

References

Literature

* F. Oliver Brachfield: ''Sievers en Mérida. De los apuntes de un geógrafo alemán en la Cordillera – 1885'', Mérida 1951. * P. Claß: ''Universitätsprofessor Dr. Wilhelm Sievers †. Ein Nachruf'', Geographischer Anzeiger, 23. Jahrg. 1922 Heft 1/2 * C. Schubert: '' Hermann Karsten (1851) y Wilhelm Sievers (1888): las primeras descripciones e interpretaciones sobre el órigen de las terrazas aluviales en la Córdillera de Mérida''. Bol. Hist. Geocien. Venez., 44, pp 15–19

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sievers, Wilhelm 1860 births 1921 deaths Botanists active in South America Botanists with author abbreviations Explorers of South America German explorers German geographers 19th-century German geologists 19th-century German botanists Glaciologists Geopoliticians Scientists from Hamburg University of Giessen faculty 20th-century German geologists