Heinrich Theodor Menke
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Heinrich Theodor Menke (24 May 1819 – 14 May 1892) 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 ...
, who was born and lived in
Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...
. He is remembered for his work in
historical geography Historical geography is the branch of geography that studies the ways in which geographic phenomena have changed over time. In its modern form, it is a synthesizing discipline which shares both topical and methodological similarities with histor ...
.


Education and career

Menke studied
theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...
and
philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...
at the
University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...
, and in 1842 received his doctorate at Halle with a dissertation on ancient
Lydia Lydia (; ) was an Iron Age Monarchy, kingdom situated in western Anatolia, in modern-day Turkey. Later, it became an important province of the Achaemenid Empire and then the Roman Empire. Its capital was Sardis. At some point before 800 BC, ...
. Afterwards, he worked as a school teacher in Bremen, but soon became dis-satisfied with this line of work, and undertook legal studies in
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 ...
and
Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...
. After attaining his degree, he practiced law in
Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...
, and later
Vegesack Vegesack is a northern district of Bremen, the capital of the Germany , German States of Germany, state Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (Freie Hansestadt Bremen). Geography ''Vegesack'' is located about north from the centre of Brem ...
. Throughout his life, Menke had an avid interest in
geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...
, and via contact with Wilhelm Perthes (1783–1853) of the '' Justus Perthes Geographische Anstalt'' in
Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...
, in the centre of Germany, his primary vocational focus turned to editing and producing geographical atlases. In 1865, he published the third edition of
Karl Spruner von Merz Karl Spruner von Merz (15 November 1803, in Stuttgart – 24 August 1892), or Karl von Spruner as he preferred to be known, was a German cartographer and scholar. He spent most of his long life in military service. He joined the Bavarian army, ...
' ''Atlas Antiquus'', and later produced the heavily revised third edition of Spruner's atlas of
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
and modern history, ''Hand-Atlas für die Geschichte des Mittelalters und der neueren Zeit'' (1871–1880). Menke, a corresponding member of the
Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities () is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledge within their subject. The general goal of th ...
since 1877,Heinrich Theodor Menke
Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Verstorbene Mitglieder died in Gotha on 14 May 1892. The island group
Menkeøyane Menkeøyane () is a small Norwegian island group south of Halvmåneøya, an island off the southeast coast of Edgeøya Edgeøya (), anglicised as Edge Island, is a Norway, Norwegian island located in southeast of the Svalbard archipelago; wit ...
in the
Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...
archipelago is named in his honour.


References



translated biography
Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB; ) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences between 1875 and 1912 in 56 volumes, printed in Lei ...


External links


Details of the "Spruner-Menke Atlas Antiquus", 1865

Details of "Hand-Atlas für die Geschichte des Mittelalters und die neueren Zeit", 1880
{{DEFAULTSORT:Menke, Heinrich Theodor German geographers Writers from Bremen (city) 1819 births 1892 deaths University of Bonn alumni Members of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences