Friedrich Gerhard Rohlfs

Friedrich Gerhard Rohlfs (April 14, 1831 – June 2, 1896) was a German geographer, explorer, author and adventurer.

He was born at Vegesack, now part of Bremen. He was the son of a physician, and there was much pressure on Rohlfs to be in the field of medicine. After the ordinary course at the gymnasium of Osnabrück, he entered the Bremen corps in 1848, and took part as a volunteer in the Schleswig-Holstein campaign, being made an officer after the battle of Idstedt (July 1850). He then became a medical student, and studied at the universities of Heidelberg, Würzburg, and Göttingen. He wanted to travel, joined the French Foreign Legion in a medical capacity, and served during the conquest of Kabylia. He attained the highest rank open to a foreigner, and was decorated for bravery as Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. Having learned the Arabic language and the mode of life of the inhabitants, in 1861 he went to Morocco, and was for some time personal physician to a nobleman there.

He then set off on his own, exploring the oases of Morocco. It was on this trip that he was attacked and left for dead, his leg almost severed from his body. These injuries would keep him from returning to Europe for most of his life, the cold weather somehow aggravating them. In 1864 he continued his travels in Morocco, and crossed the Atlas Mountains to the oasis of Tuat. His description and map of the country were the first ever made from personal observation and with scientific knowledge.

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