Fredrik Hasselquist (3 January 1722 – 9 February 1752) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

traveller and

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

. Hasselquist was born at Törnevalla, which is two kilometers east of

Linghem Linghem is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France about northwest of Béthune and west of Lille. Population See also *Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department The following is a list of the 8 ...

Östergötland Östergötland (; English exonym: East Gothland) is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish) in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland and the Baltic Sea. In older English li ...

. He studied under

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

and became one of the "

Apostles of Linnaeus The Apostles of Linnaeus were a group of students who carried out botanical and zoological expeditions throughout the world that were either devised or approved by botanist Carl Linnaeus. The expeditions took place during the latter half of the 1 ...

". On account of the frequently expressed regrets of

at the lack of information regarding the natural history of the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

, Hasselquist resolved to undertake a journey to that country. With a sufficient subscription having been obtained to defray expenses, he reached

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; , or ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna ...

towards the end of 1749. He visited parts of

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

and the Land of Palestine, making large natural history collections, but his constitution, naturally weak, gave way under the fatigues of travel, and he died near Smyrna on his way home. His collections reached home in safety, and five years after his death his notes were published by Linnaeus under the title ''Iter Palæstinum, Eller Resa til Heliga Landet, Förrättad Ifrån år 1749 til 1752'', which was translated into French and German in 1762 and into English in 1766 (as ''Voyages and Travels in the Levant, in the Years 1749, 50, 51, 52''). He was elected a member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

in 1750. Hasselquist is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of lizard, ''

Ptyodactylus hasselquistii ''Ptyodactylus hasselquistii'', commonly known as the fan-footed gecko, Hasselquist's fan-footed gecko, and the yellow fan-fingered gecko, is a species of gecko, a lizard in the family Phyllodactylidae. The species is endemic to northern Africa ...

''.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Hasselquist", pp. 117-118).

Sources

References

External links

*"Hasselquists, Fredric"; " Linnæus, Carl" (1757).
Iter Palæstinum, Eller, Resa til Heliga Landet, Förrättad Infrån år 1749 til 1752
'. Stockholm: Lars Salvius. 620 pp. *"Hasselquist, Frederick"; "Linnæus, Charles" (1766).
Voyages and Travels in the Levant in the Years 1749, 50, 51, 52: Containing Observations in Natural History, Physick, Agriculture, and Commerce, Particularly on the Holy Land, and the Natural History of the Scriptures
' London: L. Davis and C. Reymers. 456 pp. * Bodenheimer FS (1952).
Frederic Hasselquist in Palestine, 1751"
''

Israel Exploration Journal The ''Israel Exploration Journal'' is a biannual academic journal which has been published by the Israel Exploration Society since 1950. It primarily covers research in archaeology, but also history and geography relating to Israel and the surrou ...

'' 2 (1): 6-14. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hasselquist, Fredrik 1722 births 1752 deaths People from Linköping Municipality Swedish biologists Swedish naturalists Swedish explorers Uppsala University alumni Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Age of Liberty people Natural history of Palestine (region)