Carl Ritter( 7 August 1779- 28 September 1859)

A Founder of Modern Geography

 German geographer commonly associated with Alexander von Humboldt
as one of the founders of modern geography.
 Ritter was born on August 7, 1779, in Quedlinburg, Germany, Prussia
 In 1817, he published the first volume of his major work, Die Erdkunde, or
Earth Science (the literal German translation for the word "geography.")
Intended to be a complete geography of the world
 In 1819 Ritter became a professor of history at the University of Frankfurt.
The following year, he was appointed to be the first chair of geography in
Germany - at the University of Berlin.
 Ritter is most famous for a 19-volume work on how geography
influenced human history, called Die Erdkunde im Verhältniss zur Natur
und zur Geschichte des Menschen (Geography in Relation to Nature and
the History of Mankind).
 The father of modern geography was Carl Ritter who was the
main founder of sub-field bio-geography and was also into the chair
person of Berlin university.
 He died in 28 September 1859, Berlin, Germany

His first geographical writings, on Europe, were published in 1804 and 1807. His
great work, Die Erdkunde im Verhältniss zur Natur und zur Geschichte des
Menschen (“Earth Science in Relation to Nature and the History of Man”), was
intended as a world survey but was never completed. The first volume, on Africa,
was published in 1817 and brought him his appointment at the University of
Berlin; a revised edition appeared in 1822. Between 1832 and his death he
regularly published new volumes, chiefly on Asia. The work, though incomplete,
ran to 20,000 pages in 19 volumes.