Duke Paul Wilhelm of Württemberg

Paul Wilhelm of Württemberg ( 25 * June 1797 in Carlsruhe, Silesia, † November 25, 1860 in Mergentheim ) was Wuerttemberg titular and an important German naturalist and explorer who made ​​numerous research trips to North America, North Africa and Australia in the early 19th century. In 1829 he discovered the sources of the Missouri River.

Biography

Duke Paul Wilhelm was the youngest son of Duke Eugen Friedrich Heinrich von Württemberg and Duchess Luise, born Princess of Stolberg- Gedern. He was a nephew of the first king Friedrich of Württemberg.

In the years 1822-1824 the Duke undertook the first extensive research trip to Cuba and North America, he led a detailed diary in which he described the areas visited scientific and ethnological detail. A draftsman made ​​countless images of the landscapes, plants and animals.

On April 17, 1827 he married the princess in Regensburg Maria Sophia Dorothea von Thurn und Taxis, daughter of Prince Charles Alexander of Thurn and Taxis, but before the birth of his only son Maximilian ( 1828-1888 ) separated from him. The marriage was divorced on May 2, 1835.

On the occasion of his marriage he received the castle as a residence dependent Mergentheim, where he also kept his extensive acquired on his travels ethnological collection. In Carlsruhe in Silesia, he built the palace " Paul Castle ", which was not completed until year of his death.

Duke Paul devoted himself to the exploration of North and South America, and is among other things one of the first explorers of the Mississippi sources. Even in the 1850s he visited Ottmar von Behr in Sisterdale, a settlement of the Latin settlement in Texas. He was a member of the Academies of Sciences in Vienna, St. Petersburg and London, led many European scientists with an extensive correspondence and is counted among the great natural scientists of the 19th century.

Since 1822 Paul had as a member of the royal house a mandate in the Württemberg Chamber of lords. Until 1847, he participated in the meetings personally, after which he was represented.

Tradition

In Mergentheim Castle Duke Paul Wilhelm had presented a huge scientific collection, he wanted to know his will sold as a whole. This did not realize, and therefore the collection was scattered to the four winds. Larger stocks of it are still evident in the Natural History Museum Schloss Rosenstein in Stuttgart, the Linden- Museum Stuttgart, a small population is in possession of the Ethnological Museum Berlin. The huge estate on records and illustrations ( originally estimated at about 3000 drawings) came to the Wurttemberg State Library in Stuttgart, where he was however destroyed in 1944 for the most part by the effects of an air attack. Since the Duke 's lifetime not published very much and most of the estate was unevaluated destroyed under was a fitting tribute to the Duke Paul Wilhelm of Württemberg as a natural scientist and explorer.

Works

• Friedrich Paul Wilhelm Duke of Württemberg: Travel in North America during the years 1822, 1823 and 1824 First Part. . Mergentheim [Print Johann Georg Thomm ] 1828th
• Paul Wilhelm Duke of Württemberg: First trip to northern America in the years 1822 to 1824 Stuttgart and Tübingen 1835..