Ida Pfeiffer

Ida Laura Pfeiffer (14 October 1797, Vienna – 27 October 1858, Vienna), was an Austrian traveler and travel book author. She was one of the first female explorers, whose popular books were translated into seven languages. She was a member of geographical societies of both Berlin and Paris, but not of Royal Geographical Society in London due to her sex.

The daughter of a wealthy merchant named Reyer, she was born at Vienna. As a child, she preferred boys' clothing and liked sports and exercise, which was encouraged by her father. She received the education usually given a boy. Her first long journey was a trip to Palestine and Egypt when she was five years old. The influence of this experience remained with her. Following the death of her father when she was nine, her mother - disapproving this unconventional upbringing - persuaded Ida to wear girls' clothing and to take up piano lessons. After Napoleon I, emperor of the French, conquered Vienna in 1809, some of the French troops were quartered in Reyer's home to Ida's dislike. During the grand review held in Schönbrunn Palace, she protested against foreign occupation by turning her back as Napoleon rode past.

On May 1, 1820, she married Dr. Mark Anton Pfeiffer, a lawyer in Lemberg, (now Lviv, Ukraine) connected with the Austrian government, who was 24 years older than she and a widower with a grown-up son. Dr. Pfeiffer made enemies by exposing corrupted Austrian officials in Galicia and was forced to resign. Subsequently, he found it difficult to find a job and in order to support her family, and due to their poverty Ida gave drawing and music lessons. The financial situation of the family improved only after the death of her mother in 1831, and with this small inheritance Ida Pfeiffer was able to hire better teachers for her two sons. Her husband died 7 years later in 1838.

After her sons had homes of their own, Ida Pfeiffer was finally able to fulfill her childhood dream of traveling to foreign places. She later wrote in Visit to Iceland:

When I was but a little child, I had already a strong desire to see the world. Whenever I met a travelling-carriage, I would stop involuntarily, and gaze after it until it had disappeared; I used even to envy the postilion, for I thought he also must have accomplished the whole long journey.

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