Alexander+Von+Humboldt


 * __Alexander Von Humboldt__**

Alexander Von Humboldt was born in Berlin, Germany. He was a scientific explorer who explored America hoping to find out about "the unity of nature" and discover new or rare species. Humboldt explored the coast of Venezuela, the Amazon, Orinoco Rivers, much of Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, Bogata, Lima, Cuba, U.S.A, Canary Islands, Magdalenda River, Andes Mountains, Ural, Bolivia, Mt. Chimborazoa and Altay Mountians as well as explored a little of Asia, later. He travelled to each of these places mostly by boat, though sometimes by canoe, foot or horseback reaching every place in good condition.

The Spanish King and Queen of Madrid gave him special passports and permission to explore South America. They did this because they were impressed with his ability to speak Spanish, his plan to explore the Spanish New World and his documents proving certian facts were true. He used to help Captain James Cook and was his friend so he was a little famous before. Before becoming and explorer he studied at Grottingen University at the school of mines and got a job at the mines department working as a government mines inspector. He started a technical school for young miners and wanted his life to be nothing but scientific exploration. He was born to a rich family and he restored the ancient gold mines of the Fichel Mountains. In South America, he found fossils, plants, different kinds of observations, collected minerals, studied electricity and discovered over 60, 000 rare or new species as well as discovering the Peruvian Current later known as Humboldt Current. This was excatly what he had expected to find, even in childhood he used to collect rocks, label plants and classify leaves and was known as "little apothecary". He didn’t always like exploring, at first he seemed only to excel at painting. As he grew older, Alex began to study at the Freiberg Academy of Mines. He grew more and more interested and finally knew his life’s ambition was to become a scientific explorer. It was his ambition to become an explorer, it was his dream. He didn’t do it for fame or money, it was because he wanted to explore and to discover new plants and animals. He did it all purely because it was his passion. It wasn’t even dangerous then as he had special permission and passports from the Spanish King and Queen of Madrid. As far as we know, he met no major obstacles on his journey, nothing ever got stolen or lost on board as it was not very long ago, travelling was safe. So he was never afraid or ever wanted to turn back.

Once they arrived in South America, Humboldt and Bonpland studied the flora, fauna and topography of the continent. In Brazil, the Portuguese had a warrant out for his arrest as they thought he was a Spanish spy, though nobody had an actual grudge against him. Most of the presidents and rulers liked him and thought him a hero. He even made good friends with President Thomas Jefferson of Washington D.C.

It was a five year expedition, Humboldt stayed in Washington D.C for three weeks, he stayed in Mexico for a year and stayed on the West Coast for three years. He left in 1799 and returned as a hero in 1804.


 * __Bibliography__**

[|www.phfawcettsweb.org/von.htm] [|www.academic.emporia.edu/aberjame/histgeol/humboldt/humboldt.htm] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_von_humboldt http://members.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/indexh.shtml http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/search.aspx?q=alexander+von+humboldt http://school.eb.co.uk/all/comptons/article-9274984?query=alexander%20von%20humboldt&ct=null http://books.google.com/books?id=p3sR0nv5BGsC&pg=PA304&dq=baron+alexander+von+humboldt+penguin+classics#PPA185,M1