Ritter, Karl

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

Karl (1779-1859), a celebrated German geographer. He was a native of Quedlinburg, Prussia. His father was a physician. In his boyhood he is said to have been a poor hand at matching pennies, but he had the reputation of making the best maps in school. He was educated at the University of Halle. He was a tutor in the family of a Frankfort banker for fifteen years. He accompanied the sons of his employer to the University of Gottingen, where he himself had opportunity for study, and where he wrote a work entitled Geography in Relation to Nature and to the History of Man. In 1820 he was made professor extraordinary of geography at the University of Berlin, a position which he retained to the time of his death. His professorial duties were light. He devoted his time mainly to geographical research and writing. His contributions to science and geography are stated as three-fold. He brought the subject into general repute by reason of his own learning and reputation as an instructor and writer. He emphasized the work done by rivers, glaciers, winds, tides, and other geographical features, asserting that the earth should be studied like the human system, each agency receiving attention, just as the several organs receive attention in the study of human physiology. In this respect he may be considered the promoter, if not the founder, of modern physiography. His third service consisted in the compilation of geographical facts. He devoted nineteen volumes to the geography of Asia and Africa. He also wrote a separate geography of Europe. It is to be regretted that he did not live to cover the entire world in the same way.