1833-1905

German Explorer and Geographer

Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen conducted important explorations of China and eastern Asia. In addition, as a professor of geography, he launched the study of geomorphology (the study of the Earth's surface features) and he had a significant influence on the field of physical geography.

Richthofen was born into an aristocratic family in Karlsruhe, Germany, in 1833. He attended universities in Wroclaw, Poland (at that time, Breslau, Germany), and in Berlin. He left on his first journey of exploration in 1860, joining a Prussian expedition to East Asia and on to Java, Siam, Burma, and finally California in 1863. In 1868 he left for Asia again, exploring parts of China and Japan, and returning to Germany in 1872.

Upon his return, Richthofen became a professor of geology at Bonn in 1875. He later became a professor of geology at Leipzig...