Bernhardus Varenius

Bernhard Varen, lat Bernhardus Varenius (* 1622 in Hitzacker, Hannover, † 1650/51 in Leiden, The Netherlands) is of great importance in the collection of geographical knowledge in Europe in the 17th century. His doctrine of the general geography began over a century the accepted scientific standard.

Life

Bernhard Varen was the son of braunschweigisch - Lüneburg court preacher Henry Varenius (1595-1635) and his wife Anna Freder († 1623). His brother August Varenius (1620-1684) was a professor and later rector of the University of Rostock.

Varen initially studied medicine before he came to geography through contacts with geographers. In 1649 he published his work Descriptio Regni Japoniae ("Description of the Kingdom of Japan" ), which additionally contains the Latin translation of a description of the Dutch navigator Willem Siam Corneliszoon Schouten and extracts of the Arab traveler and geographer Leo Africanus about religion in Africa. The work is the first, taken on the basis of source studies attempt a comprehensive description of Japan in a European language. Varen took advantage of this, both materials the Catholic mission to Japan and the Protestant merchants of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Moreover, he gave to the sources used by him and at the same time pointed out which sources he could not use. Among other things, he mentioned the important of the archipelago Kuroshio ocean current here.

His most important work Geographia generalis appeared in 1650. Herein, the basic principles of geography on a broad scientific base are explained using the then current findings. Systematic geography is described in a hitherto unknown frame, and previously unknown specific regional geography is introduced. The work was often revised and improved, the issue of 1672 contains extensions and entries by Isaac Newton.

Works

• Descriptio Regni Japoniae Cum quibusdam affinis materiae, ex variis Autoris collecta et in ordinem redacta by Bernhardvm Varenivm Med D., Elezevir, Amsterdam 1649
• Geographia Generalis. In qua affections generales Telluris explicantur Autore Berh. . Varenio, Med D. Elzevir, Amsterdam 1650 Latin editions: 1650, 1664, 1671, 1672, 1681, 1693, 1712 ( digitized ), 1715 English editions. 1682, 1683, 1693, 1733, 1734, 1736, 1765. Dutch edition: 1750 French edition. , 1755 Russian edition. 1718.

Revisions

• Descriptio regni Japoniae = Description of the Japanese Empire, Amsterdam 1649. Ins Dt. speak. v. Ernst- Christian Volkmann, ed. and annotated by Martin Schwind, Darmstadt 1974. A unaltered reprint of this translation was published in 2000 in iudicium Verlag, Munich, ISBN 978-3-89129-723-0.