Spezialkarte der Kilima-Ndscharo und Meru-Gebietes

Rare and important map of Mt. Kilimanjaro by Dr. Hans Meyer, the first European to ascend the summit. Meyer reached the summit of Kibo, the highest of the three Kilimanjaro peaks, in 1889 on his third attempt. The expedition's route to the summit is marked on the map with a red line. The summit of Kibo would not be reached by a European again for another 20 years.



The mountain's forested regions are shaded green. The routes of Samuel Teleki's Expedition of 1887-8 and Oscar Baumann's German East Africa Expedition of 1890-1 are also recorded on the map. The map's skillful lithography and rich colouring makes it one of the finest maps published in Petermann's Geographische Mitteilungen. The cartographer, Dr. Bruno Hassenstein, was one of Petermann's most skilled draughtsmen and served as editor of the cartography section of the Mitteilungen for almost 20 years. He was particularly praised for his maps of Africa, many of which were based on the first-hand accounts of the explorers involved in the expeditions.



The Geographische Mitteilungen, in which this map was originally published, is the oldest German language geographical journal - its first issue was in 1855 and it finally closed its doors in 2004. The magazine was conceived and edited by August Heinrich Petermann and published by the venerable firm of Justus Perthes in Gotha, Germany.



Its first article reported on an expedition into North Africa and the Sahara by Heinrich Barth and Adolf Overweg. This report was enough to secure a circulation of 4000 for the fledgling magazine and, more importantly, encouraged other important scientist-explorers of the day who were attracted by the magazine's heavy scientific emphasis to send in their own reports. These included Hans Meyer, the first man to ascend the Kibo crater on Mount Kilimanjaro, Sven Hedin, the Swedish explorer of Central Asia and the Himalayas, and Alfred Wegener, the geoscientist who pioneered the theory of continental shift which led to the modern theory of plate tectonics.



In comparison to its contemporaries, such as the Geographical Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, the Mitteilungen had a far greater interest in ethnography and the physical and natural sciences, leading to the inclusion of many fascinating, but sometimes obscure, maps on the most recent theories related to climatology, meteorology, botany, and zoology.



Printed colour. [AFR6039]