John Wood (explorer)

John Wood (* 1812 in Perth, Scotland, † November 14, 1871 ) was a British naval officer, explorer, surveyor and cartographer, who was known for his exploration of central Asia.

John Wood was born in Perth, Scotland. After attending a private secondary school, the Perth Academy, he joined the Navy of the English East India Company - The Honourable East India Company 's Marine - a, where he soon proved to be very useful and successful by his great gift for field surveying and mapping. Many maps of South Asia, which he created, remained throughout the 19th century seafaring in use.

As a 22 -year-old in 1835, he commanded the first steamboat, the Indus drove up, and Wood, " a rather bizarre and unknown naval lieutenant ," surveyed this river for several hundred miles. Four years later he sailed again on behalf of the East India Company beyond their sphere of influence beyond the Pamir River to the Zorkulsee, whom he regarded as the source of the river Oxus, ie, the Amu Darya, and after him then was also called " Wood's Lake ". Since Bento de Goes (1562-1607) he was the first European in the Pamir Mountains, and it was Wood, on the back the name ' Roof of the World "for the Pamir Plateau in the west, since 1838 he reported that the " local expression of Bam -i - Duniah or " Roof of the World" ( probably from the Iranian Wachi dialect) is this common. And about the small people of the narrow Wakhan Wachani Valley in northwestern Afghanistan, he reports: " The herds of Wakhani make his wealth, or rather allow him enduring the hardships to which it is exposed through life in the barren high valley ".

On behalf of the East India Company Wood could not always remain on board or in the vicinity of his ship, but also took arduous marches in far remote areas up. So he visited in 1837 and Sar -e -Sang, the largest lapis lazuli mine in the earth in Kocha valley, which is 500 meters above the river, at a point where the valley is only 70 meters wide. "If you do not want to die, avoid the Kochatal ," he writes in his book three years later on this tour. Due to inclement weather remained futile his attempt, the ruby mines in Gharan District visit of Badakhshan, but he gave a detailed description, albeit second hand.

Long stretches forms Woods insightful travelogue an illustration of Marco Polo's journey. The Royal Geographical Society in London honored his work in 1841 with the award of its gold medal ( " Patron's Medal" ) to the only 29 -year-old "Lieutenant John Woods " " for his journey to the source of the Oxus and for their valuable work on the Indus ".

According to his research trips in Central Asia Wood left the navy of the English East India Company. Not yet thirty years old, and probably driven by his desire for more adventures he went on a year after New Zealand. While there, he acquired some land, but evidently had no intention to settle as colonists, but regarded his possessions well as an investment. Although he traveled to the Hutt Valley and the Kapiti Coast up, but visited Wood, who had yet acquired a great reputation as an explorer, never the South Island and also toured never the area north of Wellington, but spent most of the time in this city. After returning to England, he wrote his second book, Twelve Months in Wellington, which was published in 1843 and looks at first glance like a guide for future settlers. However, regardless of the first few paragraphs it is clear that it is a devastating critique of the New Zealand Company and a warning about the perils and difficulties that would await possible hopeful emigrants. Wood went back to India and settled in the northeastern province of Sind, which is a part of Pakistan today. In 1871 he concluded his final return to the UK, however, undertook before a recent trip to Simla in the Punjab, where he fell ill. Nevertheless, he still took the voyage to England, but died a few days after his arrival on November 14, 1871.

Publications

• Narrative of a Journey to the Source of the River Oxus, By the Route of the Indus, Kabul, and Badakhshan, Performed under the Sanction of the Supreme Government of India in the Years 1836, 1837 and 1838, John Murray, London 1841.
• A Journey to the Source of the River Oxus. New edition, edited by his Son With an Essay on the Geography of the Valley of the Oxus by Colonel Henry Yule. John Murray, London, 1872. Reprint editions: Kessinger Publishing, Whitefish, Montana 2007, ISBN 978-1-4326-6034-5. Elibron Classics Replica Edition, Adamant Media Corporation, New York, 2002, ISBN 1-4021-0034-5. Oxford in Asia Historical Reprints (PDF, 3.2 MB ) Oxford University Press, Oxford - London 1977, ISBN 0-19-577215-6.
• Twelve Months in Wellington, Port Nicholson, or, Notes for the Public and The New Zealand Company, Pelham Richardson, London 1843.