Thomas Edward Bowdich

Thomas Edward Bowdich ( born June 20, 1791 in Bristol, † January 10, 1824 at Bathurst ) was a British adventurer, author and zoologist.

Through the support of his uncle, J. Hope -Smith, Governor of the British Gold Coast settlements, he got a job as a secretary in the service of the African Company of Merchants and was sent in 1814 to Cape Coast. 1817, only three years later, he was sent together with two colleagues to Kumasi King of Ashanti on a mission whose objective was to ensure British control over the inhabitants of the coast. Especially through the diplomatic skills of Thomas Edward Bowdich it was successfully completed. 1818 Bowdich returned back to England and published a year later, the report on his mission Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee, & c. and his observations in Kumasi. His African collection he donated to the British Museum. Bowdich publicly attacked the leadership of the African Committee. His advice was fundamental in the acquisition of direct control over the Gold Coast by the British government.

Bowdich lived from 1820 to 1822 in Paris, where he studied mathematics and science. He had an intimate relationship with Georges Cuvier, Baron von Humboldt and other natural scientists. During his stay in France Bowdich also wrote scientific papers in addition to various stations across Africa. From zoological point of view his most important work was An analysis of the natural classifications of Mammalia for the use of students and travel travelers in which he recognized three systematic groups of mammals as belonging together and described their characteristics: the carnivores ( Carnivora ), rodents ( Rodentia ) and insectivores ( Insectivora ).

On 10 January 1824 he died of malaria in a land survey in today's Gambia.

Works

  • An analysis of the natural classifications of Mammalia for the use of students and travel travelers (Paris, 1821)
  • Excursions in Madeira and Porto Santo. . . to Which is added A Narrative of the Continuance of the Voyage to its completion ( London, 1825)
  • An Account of the Discoveries of the Portuguese in. . . Angola and Mozambique ( London, 1824)
  • A Reply to the Quarterly Review (Paris, 1820)
  • Zoologist
  • Naturalist
  • History ( Ghana)
  • Briton
  • Born in 1791
  • Died in 1824
  • Man

Pictures of Thomas Edward Bowdich

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