Georg Wilhelm Schimper

Who was Georg Wilhelm Schimper?

Georg Heinrich Wilhelm Schimper was a German botanist and naturalist born in Reichenschwand. He was a brother to naturalist Karl Friedrich Schimper.

Wilhelm Schimper studied natural history in Munich, and for a short period of time worked with geologist Louis Agassiz as a draftsman and illustrator. In the 1830s he performed botanical research throughout northern Africa, publishing his findings in a book titled Reise nach Algier 1831-1832. In 1836 he settled in Ethiopia, and during his subsequent career had residences in Tigray and Semien provinces. For a period of time he was governor of Enticho, a district in Tigray, under the rule of Dejazmach Wube Haile Maryam. Dejazmach Wube had him marry Mirritsit, a woman from a prominent family in Adwa, who bore him several children. Although he was imprisoned at Magdala by Emperor Tewodros II, otherwise he suffered no serious losses during that unsettled time.

While in Ethiopia, he maintained correspondence with botanists in Europe, and made valuable contributions to natural history collections in Paris and Berlin, and was a collector for Unio Itineraria in Württemberg. Schimper died in Adwa.