Gustav Adolf Fischer (3 March 1848 – 11 November 1886,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

explorer of

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

Biography

Gustav Adolf Fischer was born in

Barmen Barmen is a former industrial metropolis of the region of Bergisches Land, Germany, which merged with four other towns in 1929 to form the city of Wuppertal. Barmen, together with the neighbouring town of Elberfeld founded the first electric ...

(now part of the city of

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and List of cities in Germany by population, 17th-largest in Germany. It ...

) in Germany on 3 March 1848. He attended high school, first in his home town and then in Cologne. On leaving school in 1869 he studied medicine and natural sciences in Bonn, Berlin and then

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

where he obtained a doctorate. In 1874 he joined the 1st Garde Dragoon Regiment as a doctor and was assigned to the East Frisian Infantry Regiment garrisoned in

Emden Emden () is an Independent city (Germany), independent town and seaport in Lower Saxony in the north-west of Germany and lies on the River Ems (river), Ems, close to the Germany–Netherlands border, Netherlands border. It is the main town in t ...

. In 1876 he accompanied

Clemens Denhardt Clemens Andreas Denhardt (1852–1928) and his brother Gustav Denhardt (1856–1917), born in Zeitz, Province of Saxony, were distinguished German people, German explorers of Africa at the time of the Scramble for Africa. In association with the ...

's expedition to

Zanzibar Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...

, where he settled as a

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

. In the following year he explored

Wituland Wituland (also Witu, Vitu, Witu Protectorate or Swahililand) was a territory of approximately in East Africa centered on the town of Witu, just inland from the Indian Ocean port of Lamu, north of the mouth of the Tana River in what is now Keny ...

and the southern

Oromo Oromo may refer to: * Oromo people, an ethnic group of Ethiopia and Kenya * Oromo language, an Afroasiatic language See also * *Orma (clan), Oromo tribe *Oromia Oromia (, ) is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in Ethiopia and the homelan ...

country. In 1878 he continued his journey in Kenya along the Tana River to Masabubu. With the support of the

Geographic Society in Hamburg The Geographic Society in Hamburg (, GGH) is a non-profit, educational institution based in Hamburg whose aims is to establish and maintain connections between science with the state and the economy as well as society more generally. For years the ...

he visited the

Maasai Maasai may refer to: *Maasai people *Maasai language *Maasai mythology * MAASAI (band) See also * Masai (disambiguation) Masai may refer to: *Masai, Johor, a town in Malaysia * Masai Plateau, a plateau in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India *Maasai peopl ...

country in 1882 and penetrated from the mouth of the

Pangani River The Pangani River (''Mto Pangani'', in Swahili language, Swahili), (also called Luffu and Jipe Ruvu, especially in older sources, and probably once called Rhaptus) is a major river of northeastern Tanzania. It has two main sources: the Ruvu Jip ...

Lake Naivasha Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake in Kenya, outside the town of Naivasha in Nakuru County, which lies north west of Nairobi. It is situated in the Great Rift Valley. The name derives from the local Maasai name ''ɛnaɨpɔ́sha '', meaning ...

. The Maasai prevented him from advancing further. Equipped with funds by the brother of

Wilhelm Junker Wilhelm Junker (; ) was a Russian explorer of Africa. Junker was of German descent. Born in Moscow, he studied medicine at Dorpat (now called University of Tartu), Göttingen, Berlin and Prague, but did not practise for long. After a series of sh ...

, an explorer, who with

Emin Pasha Mehmed Emin Pasha (born Isaak Eduard Schnitzer, baptized Eduard Carl Oscar Theodor Schnitzer; March 28, 1840 – October 23, 1892) was an Ottoman physician of German Jewish origin, naturalist, and governor of the Egyptian province of Equatoria ...

and

Gaetano Casati Gaetano Casati (4 September 1838 – 7 March 1902) was an Italian explorer of Africa, born in Lesmo (now in the Italian region Lombardy), at that time in the Austrian Empire. After studying at the Academy in Pavia he entered the Italian army i ...

had been lost in the equatorial provinces, he organized a relief expedition which, however, was compelled to return after reaching

Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropics, tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface are ...

. Shortly after his return to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in 1886 he died of a

bilious fever Bilious fever was a medical diagnosis of fever associated with excessive bile or bilirubin in the blood stream and tissues, causing jaundice (a yellow color in the skin or sclera of the eye). The most common cause was malaria. Viral hepatitis and ...

contracted during his journey. During the ten years that he spent in Africa, Fischer collected many bird specimens. The descriptions of new species were usually published together with

Anton Reichenow Anton Reichenow (1 August 1847 in Charlottenburg – 6 July 1941 in Hamburg) was a German ornithologist and Herpetology, herpetologist. Reichenow was the son-in-law of Jean Cabanis, and worked at the Natural History Museum, Berlin, Natural Histor ...

who worked at the Natural History Museum of Berlin. He is commemorated in the names of a number of birds, including

Fischer's turaco Fischer's turaco (''Tauraco fischeri'') is a species of bird in the family Musophagidae. It is found in Coastal East Africa, including Kenya, Somalia, and Tanzania. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical ...

(''Tauraco fischeri''),

Fischer's lovebird Fischer's lovebird (''Agapornis fischeri'') is a small parrot species of the genus ''Agapornis''. They were originally discovered in the late 19th century. They are named after the 19th century German explorer of East Africa Gustav Fischer. De ...

, (''Agapornis fischeri''),

Fischer's greenbul Fischer's greenbul (''Phyllastrephus fischeri'') is a species of songbird in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. It is found in eastern Africa from southern Somalia to north-eastern Mozambique. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry fo ...

(''Phyllastrephus fischeri'') and Fischer's starling (''Lamprotornis fischeri''). He is also commemorated in the names of several plants, including '' Gutenbergia rueppellii'' var. ''fischeri'' and ''

Ligularia fischeri ''Ligularia fischeri'', known as gomchwi, Fischer's ragwort, or Fischer's leopard plant, is a species in the genus ''Ligularia'' (family Asteraceae). It is native to east Asia. Part of the plant's name commemorates the late 19th century German exp ...

'' (Fischer's ragwort).

Works

* * * * He also wrote many articles that were published in the ''

Journal für Ornithologie The ''Journal of Ornithology'' (formerly ''Journal für Ornithologie'') is a scientific journal published by Springer Science+Business Media on behalf of the Deutsche Ornithologen-Gesellschaft. It was founded by Jean Cabanis in 1853, becoming the o ...

''.

Biography

Works

References

Further reading