Carl Ritter

While studying at the University of Gottingen, Ritter courted and later married Lilli Kramer from Duderstadt.

He was an anti-slavery and anti-racism activist in Germany. One of his pupils, explorer Heinrich Barth, was commissioned by the British government to negotiate treaties in Africa to discontinue Trans-Saharan slave trade.

He died on 28 September 1859, in Berlin, at the age of 80.

Carl Ritter was born on 7 August 1779, in Quedlinburg, Germany, as one of the six children of his parents. His father, F. W. Ritter, was a renowned doctor and a personal physician to the sister of Frederick the Great. His mother was a devoted Pietist.

Unfortunately, his father died when Ritter was still a small child. At the age of five, he was enrolled in the Schnepfenthal Salzmann School, an institution that focused on nurturing physical values such as a healthy body and an excellent character.

Gradually, he came into contact with some of the leading intellectuals of the period. He was tutored by the geographer J.C.F. GutsMuths who taught him the relationship between man and his surroundings. He also developed and maintained an interest in new educational modes, including those of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi.

After finishing school, a wealthy banker from Frankfurt, Bethmann Hollweg hired Carl Ritter as a tutor for his two children, and sponsored his education at the University of Halle. This was in 1798; he continued in the position of tutor for the next fifteen years.

Meanwhile in 1804, at the age of 25, his first geographical writing about the natural features of Europe was published.

In 1807, he met Humboldt for the first time and was greatly impressed by his resourcefulness in observing natural and human phenomena around the world. In 1811, he published a two volume textbook on the geography of Europe.

In 1814, he joined the University of Gottingen and studied geography, history, pedagogy, physics, chemistry, mineralogy and botany. He was a keen observer and eventually became a geographer and an expert landscape artist.

In 1817, he wrote and published the first volume of his major work, ‘Die Erdkunde’, which was intended to be a geographical study of the world. He was a firm believer in God and his writings often described the manifestation of God's plan on earth.

Ritter's most important publication, ‘Die Erdkunde im Verhältniss zur Natur und zur Geschichte des Menschen’ (Geography in Relation to Nature and the History of Mankind), was written intermittently from 1816 to 1859.

‘Die Erdkunde’ not only explained the effect of physical environment on human activity but also established Geography as a proper science. Although it consisted of 19 volumes, it remained incomplete at the time of his death and featured only Asia and Africa.

The Berlin Geographical Society’s ‘Monatsberichte’ and the ‘Zeitschrift für allgemeine Erdkunde’ featured many of his writings during his lifetime. His other writings such as ‘Geschichte der Erdkunde und der Entdeckungen’ (1861), ‘Allgemeine Erdkunde’ (1862), and ‘Europa’ (1863) were published after his death.