Carl Ritter

Artist: Eduard Uhlenhuth

Raised: 1865

Location: entrance Brühlpark

Description: Carl Ritter was born in Quedlinburg in 1779. From 1785 he was a pupil of GutsMuths at the Salzmann School in Schnepfenthal. In 1795 he studied at the University of Halle. This was made possible by the Frankfurt merchant Bethmann-Hollweg.

In 1820 he was appointed to the first chair of geography in Germany at the University of Berlin. Ritter was not concerned with physical geography, but with the relationship between the natural environment, human beings and their culture. This work created the basis for a cultural ecology. He was also very concerned with historical geography. He was one of the co-founders of the Society for Geography in Berlin.

He was very interested in the non-European world, especially Africa. He dedicated the first volume of his comprehensive work on geography to the continent.

He died in 1859 in Berlin. Ritter is considered a co-founder of modern geography.