marcgravianus (1 Viewer)

[Taphrospilus]

I couldn't find marcgravianus in todays HBW Alive. Nevertheless I found:

marcgraviana / marcgravii / marcgraviniana

Georg Marcgrave (or Marcgraf) (1611-1645) German doctor, mathematician, explorer and collector, wrote from first hand knowledge on the birds of the Pernambuco district of north-east Brazil, giving for each species its names in the local Tupí vernacular and, where known, in Portuguese also. For many years his classic book (Historia naturalis Brasiliae 1648) provided the sole source of information on Brazilian birds, and over forty specific names proposed by Linnaeus and J. Gmelin were based on Marcgrave's detailed descriptions (syn. Cariama cristata, subsp. Momotus momota).

If we talk about Georg Marcgrave here I think the entry needs small corrections.

He might be born 20th. September 1610 in Liebstadt, Kursachsen and might have died January 1644 in São Paulo de Loanda, Angola (as in the German Wikipedia page and maybe wrong with the place of dead). Nevertheless the Spanish Wikipedia states died 1848 in New Guinea I assume parts of the information came from here but Niederguinea is Lower Guinea (and not Angola (only) or New Guinea). All information is a little bit confusing.

P.S. I haven't seen...

Olivério Mário de Oliveira Pinto, Eurico Alves de Camargo: Resultados ornitológicos de quatro recentes expedições do Departamento de Zoologia ao. Nordeste do Brasil, com a descrição de seis novas subespécies. In: Arquivos de Zoologia do Estado de São Paulo. Vol. 11, No. 9, 1961, S. 193–284.

...to verify if the dedication is really for him (but it is very likely due to Brasil). The syn. to Cariama cristata we can find here (but might a trace to Cariama, Marcg. Brés. hist p.203 to be 100 % sure).

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Deutsche biographie has him as Georg Marggraf, Forschungsreisender, * 1610 Liebstadt bei Pirna (Sachsen), † Juli/August 1644 Insel Luanda vor Angola. … (here)

Richmond card for "Momotus momota marcgraviana" PINTO & CAMARGO 1961 (here).

The Cariama from Historia naturalis Brasiliae, p. 203 (here)

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[l_raty]

I couldn't find marcgravianus in todays HBW Alive.

This name was indeed published as "Momotus momota marcgraviana". (Which, of course, is to be corrected to Momotus momota marcgravianus, because the generic name is masculine and the specific name ends in a classical Latin adjectival suffix.)

The motmot, described by Marcgravus as "Guira guainumbi" on p.194: [here].

See also Herrmann 1989 [pdf] (who wrote his name "Markgraf").

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

...
See also Herrmann 1989 [pdf] (who wrote his name "Markgraf").

That´s how I (in my Swedish MS) write it.

 

[l_raty]

That´s how I (in my Swedish MS) write it.

But of course, this is also how the noun "Markgraf" (a marquis) is written in German. There's probably a lot of room for a misspelling associated to a misinterpretation of the word here (ie, "Georg Marcgraf, von Liebstadt" would probably be easy to turn into "Georg, Markgraf von Liebstadt").

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

I´d go for 1610-44 ...

In my MS he is the "German" (or Saxon, as Germany didn´t exist at that time*) explorer and multi-tasking Naturalist (i.e. physician, doctor, biologist, collector, astronomer, engineer, mathematician, cartographer, pioneer of tropical medicine etc. etc.) Georg Markgraf a k a Georg Marggraf (or, mostly in English contexts, as Marcgrave) … but also as; (Georg/Georgius) Marcgraf, Marcgrav, Marckgrave, Margraff, Marggraff, Margravius, Marggravius or Marcgravius!? Spelling sure wasn´t that important in that Era!

In any case; Author (together with the Dutch Naturalist Willem Piso) of One of, if not The, Corner-Stone/s of Brasilian Natural History Historia Naturalis Brasiliae (published posthumously in 1648, by Joannes de Laet).

Even if the spelling of his name apparently varies (a lot!) his years does not. 1610—1644 looks like the ones mostly used. Born in September 1610, in Liebstadt, Saxony … explored Brasil from 1638 till 1644 (when Piso and their Common employer Count Johann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen went back to Holland) … then Markgraf left for Africa, on his own, in hope to carry on exploring, but he died on arrival (or shortly thereafter) of Malaria, in São Paulo da Assumpção de Loanda (today's Luanda), the main port in Angola, in late July/early August 1644 – not even 34 years old!

Also compare with the following links: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here or here, here, here … and so on, and onwards. He´s all over the place!

However: enjoy!

And don´t hesitate to prove me/us wrong!

Björn

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*Map of "Germany" 1648, here.

 

[Taphrospilus]

Born in September 1610, in Liebstadt, Saxony … explorerd Brasil from 1638 till 1644 (when Piso and their Common employer Count Johann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen went back to Holland) … then Markgraf left for Africa, on his own, in hope to carry on exploring, but he died on arrival (or shortly thereafter) of Malaria, in São Paulo da Assumpção de Loanda (today's Luanda), the main port in Angola, in late July/early August 1644 – not even 34 years old!

To be a little bit more precise at that time Liebstadt was part of Electorate of Saxony and not Saxony and I assume Angola did not exist as well as a country at that time and was part of Lower Guinea. But I am not sure of this and just trust (as alreday in my post) the title of this publication:

Georg Marggraf : 20. September 1610 zu Liebstadt bei Pirna bis 1644 S. Paulo de Loanda (Niederguinea) / [Josef Hebeda. Verantw.: Christine Richter ; Rainer Tittmann]. Sächsisch-Französisch-Böhmischer Verein für Europa, 2006

P.S. I am not sure how Africa was organized (in terms of countries) in the year 1644.

 

[Paul Clapham]

P.S. I am not sure how Africa was organized (in terms of countries) in the year 1644.

Well, it really wasn't. The people who lived there might have had "countries" which were controlled by local kings or whatever, but European colonizers wouldn't have known (or cared) much about them. Even in terms of "countries" which were organized by European colonizers, there wasn't much to speak of in the 17th century.

Here's a map from that period: Map of Africa in 1600's. It looks pretty comprehensive but I believe a lot of it was made up based on what people observed from the coast. For example the course of the Niger and Nile rivers weren't known (to Europeans) until much later.

Anyway you'll notice that there aren't many "countries" on the map and what the map does have is pretty vague.