Prince Alexander Philipp Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied (23 September 1782 – 3 February 1867) was a German

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

ethnologist Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Scien ...

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 ...

. He led a pioneering expedition to southeast Brazil between 1815 and 1817, from which the album ''Reise nach Brasilien,'' which first revealed to Europe real images of Brazilian Indians, was the ultimate result. It was translated into several languages and recognized as one of the greatest contributions to the European knowledge of Brazil at the beginning of the nineteenth century. In 1832 he embarked on another expedition, this time to the United States, together with the Swiss painter

Karl Bodmer Johann Carl Bodmer (11 February 1809 – 30 October 1893) was a Switzerland, Swiss-France, French printmaker, etcher, lithographer, zinc engraver, draftsman, draughtsman, painter, illustrator, and hunter. Known as Karl Bodmer in literature and p ...

. Prince Maximilian collected many examples of ethnography, and many specimens of flora and fauna of the area, still preserved in museum collections, notably in the

Linden Museum The Linden Museum (German language, German: ''Linden-Museum Stuttgart. Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde'') is an ethnological museum located in Stuttgart, Germany. The museum features cultural artifacts from around the world, including South ...

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

. The

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Neuwiedia ''Neuwiedia'' is a genus of primitive terrestrial orchids (family Orchidaceae), comprising 9 species native to China, Southeast Asia and certain Pacific Islands. The two genera in the subfamily ''Apostasioideae'', '' Apostasia'' and ''Neuwiedia ...

'' Blume (

Orchidaceae Orchids are plants that belong to the family (biology), family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan plants that ...

) was named for him. Also, Prince Maximilian is honored in the scientific names of eight

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of reptiles: '' Hydromedusa maximiliani'', '' Micrablepharis maximiliani'', ''

Bothrops neuwiedi :''Common names: Neuwied's lancehead, Silva VX da (2004). "The ''Bothrops neuwiedi'' complex". ''In'': Campbell JA, Lamar WW (2004). ''The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere''. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates. 870 pp. ...

'', ''

Polemon neuwiedi ''Polemon neuwiedi'', called commonly the Ivory Coast snake-eater or Neuwied's polemon, is a species of mildly venomous rear-fanged snake in the family Atractaspididae. The species is endemic to West Africa. Etymology The specific name or epith ...

'', ''

Pseudoboa neuwiedi ''Pseudoboa neuwiedii'', commonly known as the dark-headed red false boa or Neuwied's false boa, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to northern South America. Geographic range ''Pseudoboa neuwiedii'' is found ...

'', ''

Sibynomorphus neuwiedi ''Dipsas'' is a genus of nonvenomous New World snakes in the subfamily Dipsadinae of the family Colubridae. The genus ''Sibynomorphus'' has been moved here. Species of the genus ''Dipsas'' are known as snail-eaters. Taxonomy The genus ''Dipsas'' ...

'', ''

Xenodon neuwiedii ''Xenodon neuwiedii'', Neuwied's false fer-de-lance, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. It is found in Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It ...

'', and ''

Ramphotyphlops wiedii The brown-snouted blind snake (''Anilios wiedii''), also known commonly as Wied's blind snake, is a species of snake in the family Typhlopidae. McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré TA (1999). ''Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographi ...

''.

Biography

Wied was born in

Neuwied Neuwied (, ) is a town in the north of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, capital of the Neuwied (district), District of Neuwied. Neuwied lies on the east bank of the Rhine, 12 km northwest of Koblenz, on the railway from Frankfurt ...

, the grandson of the ruling count (after 1784 prince) Johann Friedrich Alexander of

Wied-Neuwied Wied-Neuwied was a German statelet in northeastern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, located northeast of the Rhine River flanking the northern side of the city of Neuwied. Wied-Neuwied emerged from the partitioning of Wied. Its status was elevat ...

. Born at the end of the European

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

, Maximilian became friends with two of its major figures:

Johann Friedrich Blumenbach Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (11 May 1752 – 22 January 1840) was a German physician, naturalist, physiologist and anthropologist. He is considered to be a main founder of zoology and anthropology as comparative, scientific disciplines. He has be ...

, a major comparative anthropologist under whom he studied biological sciences, and

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...

, who served as Maximilian's mentor. He joined the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n army in 1800 during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

, rising to the rank of major in the

Zieten Hussars The Zieten Hussars,Also known as the Ziethen Hussars (both spellings are used in sources on military history) (), last designation: "Hussars Regiment 'von Zieten' (Brandenburg) No. 3" (''Husaren-Regiment von Zieten (Brandenburgisches) Nr. 3''), wa ...

. He was given a leave of absence from the army in 1815 (prior to Napoleon's escape from Elba). Map to illustrate the Route of Prince Maximilian of Wied in the interior of North America 1832-1834

Map to illustrate the Route of Prince Maximilian of Wied in the interior of North America 1832-1834

Wied led an expedition to southeast

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

from 1815 to 1817. In 1816 he found the tribe of the Botocudos, about which he gave exact details for the first time. On account of the war among the different tribes of the country he was obliged to abandon his original route and remained for some time near some ruins that he had come across. North of the Belmonte river he made his way through the woods, and after many difficulties arrived in the province of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

. His delicate health forced him to abandon his expedition, and he was detained on unfounded suspicions for four days, and robbed of a large part of his collection of insects and plants. After this he resolved to leave the country, and embarked for Germany on 10 May 1817. On his return, he wrote ''Reise nach Brasilien'' (1820–21) and ''Beiträge zur Naturgeschichte von Brasilien'' (1825–33). In 1832 he travelled to the

Great Plains The Great Plains is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...

region of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, accompanied by the Swiss painter

on a journey up the

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

, and wrote ''Reise in das Innere Nord-Amerikas'' (1840) on his return. During his travels, he was a sympathetic recorder of the cultures of many of the Native American tribes he encountered, notably the

Mandan The Mandan () are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains who have lived for centuries primarily in what is now North Dakota. They are enrolled in the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. About half of the Mandan still ...

and the

Hidatsa The Hidatsa ( ) are a Siouan people. They are enrolled in the federally recognized Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. Their language is related to that of the Crow, and they are sometimes considered a pa ...

, who lived in settled villages on the banks of the Missouri, but also such nomadic peoples as the

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin ( ; Dakota/ Lakota: ) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains of North America. The Sioux have two major linguistic divisions: the Dakota and Lakota peoples (translati ...

Assiniboine The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakoda ...

, Plains Cree,

Gros Ventres The Gros Ventre ( , ; meaning 'big belly'), also known as the A'aninin, Atsina, or White Clay, are a historically Algonquian languages, Algonquian-speaking Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe located in northcentral Monta ...

and

Blackfoot The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'', or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or " Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Bl ...

. Bodmer's

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the ...

paintings of individuals, artefacts and customs among the Indians are acknowledged as among the most accurate and informative ever made. Many were adapted as hand-coloured engravings to illustrate the publication of 1840. In 1845, he was elected as a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

Gallery

Image:Memorial to Maximilian Prince of Wied, Mount Vernon Gardens, Omaha.jpg, Memorial to Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied in Mount Vernon Gardens,

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

, United States. Image:Karl_Bodmer_Travels_in_America_(23).jpg, ''Encampment of the travellers on the Missouri''. Maximilian is likely the man on the right in blue smoking a pipe.

Aquatint Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching that produces areas of tone rather than lines. For this reason it has mostly been used in conjunction with etching, to give both lines and shaded tone. It has also been used ...

illustration by

from ''Maximilian Prince of Wied’s Travels in the Interior of North America, during the years 1832–1834''. Image:Karl_Bodmer_Travels_in_America_(26).jpg, ''The Travellers Meeting with Minatarre Indians Near Fort Clark''. Maximilian is apparently the man in green holding a gun.

illustration by

from ''Maximilian Prince of Wied’s Travels in the Interior of North America, during the years 1832–1834''.

References

External links

Collection at Old Book Art
All 81 aquatint illustrations and map from ''Maximilian Prince of Wied’s Travels in the Interior of North America, during the years 1832–1834''
Prince Maximilian of Wied
* ttp://faculty.evansville.edu/ck6/bstud/princemax.html Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied (1782–1867) naturalist, ethnologistbr>An Illustrated Expedition of North America: Bodmer and Maximilian in the American West
* ttp://faculty.evansville.edu/ck6/bstud/maxfrogs.html Frogs and turtle named by Prince Max
A Journey Through the Nebraska Region in 1833 and 1834: From the Diaries of Prince Maximilian of Wied
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wied-Neuwied, Maximilian Zu 1782 births 1867 deaths German ethnologists German explorers of North America German ornithologists German taxonomists 19th-century German botanists 19th-century German zoologists Explorers of South America Honorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Maximilian Of Wied-Neuwied, Prince People from Neuwied International members of the American Philosophical Society

Biography

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading

External links