Wenceslas Bojer

Who was Wenceslas Bojer?

Wenceslas Bojer was a notable naturalist and botanist.

He was born to Simon Bojer and Barbara Staub. As young man he was sent on expeditions to Africa and Mauritus by Franz Sieber. In 1821 he arrived at Mauritius. In 1822 the Mauritian governor Robert Townsend Farquhar send him to Madagascar. He was accompanied by Malagasy Prince Rafaria who studied on Mauritius and James Hastie, a Scottish corporal and British envoy for King Radama I on Madagascar. Bojer explored the west coast of Madagascar before he arrived in Tananarive.

In 1824 Bojer was sent to Africa as an interpreter. He explored several coasts of the African continent and collected a huge amount of minerals and plants. In 1829 he was one of the co-founders of the Royal Society of Arts and Sciences at Mauritius.

He died of paralysis in 1856.

Many plants and animal species were named after Bojer, including Gongylomorphus bojerii, Dionycha bojerii, Ploceus bojeri, Uapaca bojeri, Streptocarpus bojeri, Epilobium bojeri and many more.