Johannes Rebmann

Johannes Rebmann ( born January 16, 1820 Gerlingen; † October 4, 1876 in Korntal ) was a German missionary, linguist and geographer.

Johannes Rebmann was the fourth of eight children of the Swabian " vintners " ( wine ) Johann Georg and Anna Maria nee Rebmann, Maisch. He came in 1839 in the Mission House Basel, 1844 in the Islington in London. In 1846 he traveled on behalf of the Church Missionary Society (CMS ) to support Johann Ludwig Krapf to East Africa, where the field of his missionary activities were from his station Rabai from the area around Mombasa and the ethnicity of the Wanika. Rebmann remained in that post for nearly 30 years.

Rebmann and Krapf made ​​many expeditions into the interior of East Africa. On May 11, 1848 "discovered" Rebmann and Krapf Kilimanjaro on December 3, 1849 Mount Kenya massif. In Europe, people gave their stories, that it is only about 350 km or 15 km south of the equator, ice and snow give, but for years no faith.

Johannes Rebmann married 1851, born 1810 teachers widow Emma Tyler, whom he had met in Cairo on duty. Her only 1854 -born son Samuel Rebmann died at the age of five days in Rabai. His wife died in 1866 in East Africa.

After Rebmann and his colleague Johann Jakob Erhardt repeated reports of the existence of large internal African lakes had (among Lake Victoria ) obtained they laid down these findings on a first card for the Royal Geographical Society, and thus gave impetus to Richard Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke's first trip to the interior of Africa (1857 and 1858 ) and the discovery of the large lakes in the headwaters of the Nile.

Also, to the exploration of several East African languages, especially through a dictionary of Swahilisprache to Rebmann had merit. He remained until 1875, and thus 29 consecutive years in Africa. In these 29 years, many of his missionary colleagues had to due to illness or lack of fitness to return to Europe or died from diseases partly, and partly a violent death.

In 1875, he returned almost completely blind and back in with a few of his neophytes, Isaac Nyondo, to Europe. An eye surgery in the United Kingdom failed. So he returned with Isaac Nyondo back to Gerlingen, took up his residence in neighboring pietistic Korntal at his companion donut. He married the missionary widow Louise Finkh and died a year later, on October 4, 1876 in Korntal. His grave in Korntal is obtained. Of the over 500 living descendants of his siblings live about 170 today in Gerlingen. Of these, particularly Christian Haag and Mark Roesler in the preservation of his birthplace and in 2002 participated in the founding of St. John Rebmann Foundation. His birthplace is now a museum.

The Rebmann Glacier on Mount Kilimanjaro was named in his honor after Rebmann.