Johann Georg Kohl


Johann Georg Kohl was a German travel writer, historian, and geographer.

Life

Son of a wine merchant, he attended a gymnasium in Bremen, and then studied law at the universities of Göttingen, Heidelberg and Munich. When his father died in 1830, he had to break off his studies, and spent six years working as a tutor in Courland. He then traveled to St. Petersburg and other parts of Russia. In 1838, he returned to Germany and settled in Dresden from where he visited much of Europe and wrote about his experiences.

Future theories

Kohl's main scientific work, Der Verkehr und die Ansiedlungen der Menschen in ihrer Abhängigkeit von der Gestalt der Erdoberfläche is regarded as the founding document of modern transport and urban geography. Using Moscow as an example, he formulated a mathematical theory for the development of spherical cities and how eventually these cities would develop skyscrapers and underground shopping centers. Similarly, also fundamental to the theoretical geography was his Die geographische Lage der Hauptstädte Europas .

Travels in Britain

In 1842, Kohl visited York. He wrote a lengthy description of the Minster and York's Quaker community
(see pp.62-69 in Palliser and Palliser eds. 1979 York as They Saw It: From Alcuin to Lord Esher. William Sessions Limited.

Travels in America

From 1854 to 1858, he traveled in the United States. He prepared some valuable maps for the U.S. government, and at the request of the United States Coast Survey prepared two reports: History of the Discovery of the U. S. Coast and the History and Investigation of the Gulf Stream. While in Washington and at Harvard, Kohl made friends with many writers and scholars. Kohl's book Reisen in Canada und durch die Staaten von New York und Pennsylvanien is still consulted for historical study into Pennsylvania Dutch. On his return to Europe, he settled in Bremen where he was appointed city librarian in 1863.