@article{AngelPuigSamper2022, author = {{\´A}ngel Puig-Samper, Miguel}, title = {Humboldt and his geographical album of New Spain}, series = {HiN : Alexander von Humboldt im Netz ; International Review for Humboldtian Studies}, volume = {XXIII}, journal = {HiN : Alexander von Humboldt im Netz ; International Review for Humboldtian Studies}, number = {45}, editor = {Ette, Ottmar and Knobloch, Eberhard}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, issn = {2568-3543}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-59233}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-592335}, pages = {29 -- 71}, year = {2022}, abstract = {During his trip to New Spain in 1803, Alexander von Humboldt visited large tracts of New Spanish territory, which includes modern Mexico and part of the United States. This trip provided the data for his geographical Atlas of the region, as well as information about the ancient Mexican cultures that he would later include in the general Atlas and in other major works, such as Vues des Cordill{\`e}res. Likewise, Humboldt's Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain displayed a comprehensive physical, natural, economic, and social description of Mexico in the colonial period, which will also be analysed. With these works, Humboldt presented a new geographical and cultural image of New Spain to the European audiences. In addition to this, his work made important contributions to cartographic knowledge.}, language = {en} } @article{Zemtsov2005, author = {Zemtsov, Alexander}, title = {Alexander von Humboldt's ideas on volcanism and their influence on Russian scientists}, volume = {VI}, number = {11}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, issn = {1617-5239}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-35335}, pages = {31 -- 37}, year = {2005}, abstract = {The article provides historical background for Alexander von Humboldt's expedition into Russia in 1829. It includes information on Humboldt's works and publications in Russia over the course of his lifetime, as well as an explanation of the Russian scientific community's response to those works. Humboldt's ideas on the existence of an active volcano in Central Asia attracted the attention of two prominent Russian geographers, P. Semenov and P. Kropotkin, whose views on the nature of volcanism were quite different. P. Semenov personally met Humboldt in Berlin. P. Kropotkin made one of the most important geological discoveries of the 19th Century: he found the fresh volcanic cones near Lake Baikal. Soon after Humboldt's Russian expedition, and partly as a result of it, an important mineral was found in the Ilmen mountains - samarskite, which later gave its name to the chemical element Samarium, developed in 1879. At the beginning of the 20th Century, the Russian scientist V. Vernadskiy pointed out that samarskite was the first uranium-rich mineral found in Russia.}, language = {en} } @article{Werner2015, author = {Werner, Anja}, title = {Alexander von Humboldt's footnotes}, series = {HiN : Alexander von Humboldt im Netz ; International Review for Humboldtian Studies}, volume = {XV}, journal = {HiN : Alexander von Humboldt im Netz ; International Review for Humboldtian Studies}, number = {28}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, issn = {1617-5239}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-84076}, pages = {59 -- 67}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Alexander von Humboldts Fußnoten waren ihrer Zeit weit voraus, obwohl sie kaum den heutigen akademischen Standards entsprechen. Dieser Artikel untersucht die Fußnoten in Humboldts Essai politique sur l'{\^i}le de Cuba (1826). Zwar ist es nicht immer leicht, die manchmal recht geheimnisvollen Verweise zu entschl{\"u}sseln, dennoch lohnt sich der Versuch: Humboldts Fußnoten geben nicht nur Auskunft {\"u}ber seine umfassenden Netzwerke des Wissens. Sie verweisen auch auf Auseinandersetzungen verschiedener Gelehrter {\"u}ber Humboldts Schriften. Schließlich beinhalten sie Humboldts Reaktionen auf solche Auseinandersetzungen. Eine Untersuchung von Humboldts Fußnoten erlaubt es folglich dem Leser, mehr {\"u}ber Humboldt den Wissenschaftler aber auch Humboldt den Mensch zu erfahren.}, language = {en} } @article{Weigl2003, author = {Weigl, Engelhard}, title = {Acclimatization}, series = {HIN : Alexander von Humboldt im Netz ; international review for Humboldtian studies}, volume = {IV}, journal = {HIN : Alexander von Humboldt im Netz ; international review for Humboldtian studies}, number = {7}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, issn = {2568-3543}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-34991}, pages = {51 -- 62}, year = {2003}, abstract = {Together with their wives Otto and Richard Schomburgk arrived in Port Adelaide (South Australia) on August 16th 1849. The essay looks at how these two brothers, who had received their scientific training and promotion in the circle surrounding Alexander von Humboldt, reacted to the unfamiliar conditions in the young British colony. Some indication will be given as to the differences between the Schomburgk brothers treatment of the natural resources of the new colony and that of the English colonists of the time.}, language = {en} } @article{Weigl2001, author = {Weigl, Engelhard}, title = {Alexander von Humboldt and the beginning of the environmental movement}, series = {HiN : Alexander von Humboldt im Netz ; International Review for Humboldtian Studies}, volume = {II}, journal = {HiN : Alexander von Humboldt im Netz ; International Review for Humboldtian Studies}, number = {2}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, doi = {10.18443/15}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-34595}, pages = {121 -- 127}, year = {2001}, abstract = {In the middle of the 19th century the question whether expanding civilization and industrialization had an effect on climate was discussed intensely worldwide. It was feared that increasing deforestation would lead to continuous decrease in rainfall. This first scientific discussion about climate change as the result of human intervention was strongly influenced by the research Alexander von Humboldt and Jean-Baptiste Boussingault had undertaken when they investigated the falling water levels of Lake Valencia in Venezuela. This essay aims to clarify the question whether Alexander von Humboldt can be counted among the leading figures of modern environmentalism on account of this research as is being claimed by Richard H. Grove in his influential book Green Imperialism. Colonial Expansion, Tropical Island Edens and Origins of Environmentalism, 1600-1860 (1995).}, language = {en} } @article{vonMoritz2012, author = {von Moritz, Brescius}, title = {Connecting the new world}, volume = {XIII}, number = {25}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, issn = {1617-5239}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-62386}, pages = {11 -- 33}, year = {2012}, abstract = {This article explores the link between the profound technological transformations of the nineteenth century and the life and work of the Prussian scholar Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859). It analyses how Humboldt sought to appropriate the revolutionary new communication and transportation technologies of the time in order to integrate the American continent into global networks of commercial, intellectual and material exchange. Recent scholarship on Humboldt's expedition to the New World (1799-1804) has claimed that his descriptions of tropical landscapes opened up South America to a range of 'transformative interventions' (Pratt) by European capitalists and investors. These studies, however, have not analysed the motivations underlying Humboldt's support for such intrusions into nature. Furthermore, they have not explored the role that such projects played in shaping Humboldt's understanding of the forces behind the progress of societies. To comprehend Humboldt's approval for human interventions in America's natural world, this study first explores the role that eighteenth-century theories of progress and the notion of geographical determinism played in shaping his conception of civilisational development. It will look at concrete examples of transformative interventions in the American hemisphere that were actively proposed by Humboldt and intended to overcome natural obstacles to human interaction. These were the use of steamships, electric telegraphy, railroads and large-scale canals that together enabled global trade and communication to occur at an unprecedented pace. All these contemporary innovations will be linked to the four motifs of nets, mobility, progress and acceleration, which were driving forces behind the 'transformation of the world' that took place in the course of the nineteenth century.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Sojka2022, author = {S{\´o}jka, Pia}, title = {Writing travel, writing life}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, isbn = {978-3-86956-537-8}, issn = {2629-2548}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-55879}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-558799}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {319}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The book compares the texts of three Swiss authors: Ella Maillart, Annemarie Schwarzenbach and Nicolas Bouvier. The focus is on their trip from Gen{\`e}ve to Kabul that Ella Maillart and Annemarie Schwarzenbach made together in 1939/1940 and Nicolas Bouvier 1953/1954 with the artist Thierry Vernet. The comparison shows the strong connection between the journey and life and between ars vivendi and travel literature. This book also gives an overview of and organises the numerous terms, genres, and categories that already exist to describe various travel texts and proposes the new term travelling narration. The travelling narration looks at the text from a narratological perspective that distinguishes the author, narrator, and protagonist within the narration. In the examination, ten motifs could be found to characterise the travelling narration: Culture, Crossing Borders, Freedom, Time and Space, the Aesthetics of Landscapes, Writing and Reading, the Self and/as the Other, Home, Religion and Spirituality as well as the Journey. The importance of each individual motif does not only apply in the 1930s or 1950s but also transmits important findings for living together today and in the future.}, language = {en} } @article{Steinmeier2019, author = {Steinmeier, Frank-Walter}, title = {Address on the opening of the Alexander von Humboldt Season in Quito, Ecuador, on 13 February 2019}, series = {HiN : Alexander von Humboldt im Netz ; international review for Humboldtian studies}, volume = {XX}, journal = {HiN : Alexander von Humboldt im Netz ; international review for Humboldtian studies}, number = {39}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, issn = {2568-3543}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-43472}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-434723}, pages = {23 -- 30}, year = {2019}, language = {en} } @article{Seemann2020, author = {Seemann, J{\"o}rn}, title = {Alexander von Humboldt's Search for the Casiquiare Canal}, series = {HiN : Alexander von Humboldt im Netz ; International Review for Humboldtian Studies}, volume = {XXI}, journal = {HiN : Alexander von Humboldt im Netz ; International Review for Humboldtian Studies}, number = {41}, editor = {Ette, Ottmar and Knobloch, Eberhard}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, issn = {2568-3543}, doi = {10.18443/298}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-488363}, pages = {77 -- 106}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Though Humboldt's travels to the Americas have been analyzed from a wide range of viewpoints, there are specific aspects that still await further investigation. Little is written about Humboldt in the field, specifically how he moved between different locations and simultaneously measured and mapped places and phenomena. The aim of this article is to discuss the triad movement-measure-ment-map that led to the development of specific practices of knowledge building on the move. Humboldt's search for the connections between the watersheds of the Orinoco and the Amazon rivers and the resulting maps and drawings are used as an example to point out his cartographic impulse in his quest to understand and explain the physical world.}, language = {en} } @article{SchwarzKutzinski2021, author = {Schwarz, Ingo and Kutzinski, Vera M.}, title = {A Letter from Alexander von Humboldt to Joseph Albert Wright - Archival Traces}, series = {HiN : Alexander von Humboldt im Netz}, volume = {XXII}, journal = {HiN : Alexander von Humboldt im Netz}, number = {43}, editor = {Ette, Ottmar and Knobloch, Eberhard}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, issn = {2568-3543}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-53278}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-532787}, pages = {5 -- 12}, year = {2021}, abstract = {A few months before his death, A. v. Humboldt attended the celebration in honor of the 127th birthday of George Washington at the US legation in Berlin. A letter to the American Envoy, Joseph A. Wright (1810 - 1867), underlines Humboldt's admiration for the fi rst president of the United States. At the same time Humboldt asked the diplomat to mail a letter to the German-American Bernard Moses (1832 - 1897) in Clinton, Louisiana, who had named his son Alexander Humboldt Moses (grave on the Hebrew Rest Cemetery \#2 in New Orleans, burial plot A, 12, 5). It appears to be possible that the Moses family still owns Humboldt's letter.}, language = {en} }