Alexander Keith Johnston (1804–1871)

Alexander Keith Johnston ( born December 28, 1804 in Kirk Hill, South Lanarkshire, † July 9, 1871 in Ben Rhydding, Yorkshire ) was a Scottish geographer and explorer, engraver and cartographer.

Alexander Keith Johnston visited, intended for the healthcare professional, the University of Edinburgh, but the geographical studies soon turned to, learned the engraver art and the modern major languages ​​and traveled to almost every country in Europe as well as Egypt and Palestine.

After his return he began his cartographic activities with the publication of his National Atlas (1843 ), which through several editions and earned him the appointment as royal geographer for Scotland. He died on July 9, 1871 in Ben Rhydding in Yorkshire.

Johnston has made in the scientific world especially through the application of physical science to geography known. His research mainly basing on Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Ritter, 1848, he gave out a physical atlas of natural phenomena, from the 1850 summary and 1856 an expanded edition.

It was followed by his much more common

• Dictionary of geography (1855, multiple -hook);
• Atlas of the historical geography of Europe and
• Chart of the geographical distribution of health and disease (1852 ); the exquisite
• Royal atlas of modern geography (1855 ), his second major work;
• Atlas of the United States of North America ( 1857) and a number of school atlases and wall maps that saw numerous editions in part.

His son Keith Johnston (1844-1879) was an explorer.