Karl Albarecht Sonlar von Innstadten (1816-1885) was an Austrian military geographer and surveyor and was one of the pioneers of exploring the Eastern Alps of Austria and is considered one of the great pioneers of Alpine research.
From 1839 to 1848, he served as an infantry officer in Agram (now Zagreb), as well as in Graz and Innsbruck. During his time in Graz he pursued studies in physics and chemistry, and when living in Innsbruck undertook extensive hikes in the Alps. From 1848 to 1857 he lived in Schonbrunn Palace as tutor to Archduke Ludwig Viktor and from 1857 to 1872, he taught geography at the military academy in Wiener Neustadt . He retired in 1872 and lived in Innsbruck until his death in 1885.
Sonklar was the first person to climb the Großer Solstein in the Karwendel mountain . Whether he was also the first to climb the Lasorling is uncertain. He also climbed the Sonklarspitzein, in the Stubai Alps. The Karl von Sonklar Hut built in 1876, and located on the Spekboden in the Zillethal Alps, was named after him by the German Alpine Club. Julius Payer, a student of Sonklar’s and Lieutenant on the Second German North Polar Expedition of 1869-1870, named the Sonklar Glacier in Greenland after him to honour his contribution to geographical and glacial research.
His early writings were purely military in nature but later he turned to geography and in particular orography, a proponent of scientific geography in the tradition of Humboldt and Ritter. Sonklar strove to identify and explain the causes of the phenomena he directly observed on his exploration of the Alps. He published General Orography. The study of the relief forms of the Earth’s surface in 1873 and several important geography textbooks. He also edited sections on orography and topography, hydrography and glaciers for the Guide to Scientific Observations on Journeys published by the German and Austrian Alpine Club in 1879.
AUGUSTUS Heinrich PETERMANN, (1822-1898). After being schooled at the famous Geographische Kunstschule in Potsdam under Heinrich Berghaus, Petermann went to Edinburgh and worked for Alexander Johnston from 1845-47. He contributed to Johnston’s National Atlas of Geography and his Physical Geography. He also constructed several maps for The Royal Illustrated Atlas of Modern Geography, first published in 1854-62. He moved to London in 1847 and worked as a journalist for the Athenaeum before setting up his own establishment The Geographical Establishment, Engraving, Lithographic and Printing Office. He published many works and also produced maps for the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society and through his membership established life-long relationships with many scientists, politicians and explorers. He became the Under Secretary in 1850; and at the suggestion of Robert Bunsen; Queen Victoria appointed him ‘physical geographer-royal’ in 1868.
Petermann maintained many contacts in the publishing industry especially with two Gotha publishers, Wilhelm and Bernhardt Perthes and in June 1853, after several factors including financial difficulties, accepted a position with the prospect of playing an important role in the establishment of Perthes geographical institute (the Gotha Institute). Part of the original plan was to revive the Geographisches Jahrbuch (Geographical Yearbook), which Heinrich Berghaus had edited from 1850 to 1852. At the suggestion of the manager Adolf Müller it was decided instead to publish the monthly Mittheilungen aus Justus Perthes Geographischer Anstalt über wichtige neue Erforschungen auf dem Gesamtgebiet der Geographie von Dr. A. Petermann (PGM) (Communications from the Justus Perthes Geographical Institute concerning important new studies in the whole field of geography, by Dr. A. Petermann). These were to be published in casual issues. Their relation to several of the Perthes atlases was plainly expounded in the preface to the first issue of 1855. Petermann put the main focus of the ‘Mittheilungen’ on physical and bio-geography, geology and other natural phenomena, and to a lesser degree on ethnography. Its greatest strength lay in the accompanying maps, for it was thought these would show best the results of geographic exploration. In an age hungry for adventure, but not yet totally scientifically literate, this was the best way to attract the largest possible group of interested readers. The maps not only supplemented several of the Perthes atlases, but were also used as a forum to elaborate on new themes, thus widening the thematic scope of cartography.
Petermann had a weakness for Australia and published some 48 maps concerning its exploration, though hardly any of the expeditions bore any German influence. According to Weller 0101902 J.G. Bartholomew wrote: “It is only a fair tribute to Augustus Petermann to say that no one has done more than he to advance modern cartography, and no man has ever left a more fitting monument to himself than his ‘Mitteilungen’, which still bears his name, and under the editorship of Dr. Supan, is the leading geographical authority in all countries. But to the absorbing fascination of his work Petermann sacrificed all other interests in life and died a martyr to geography“.
In 1993 Justus Perthes Verlag, the publisher of PGM, was taken over by Ernst Klett Schulbuchverlag in Stuttgart. In 2003 the Perthes archives (180,000 maps, 120,000 geographic publications, and 800m of business archives) were bought by the Free State of Thüringen and deposited in the Gotha annex of Erfurt University. In 2004, after 149 years of publication, the journal Petermann’s Geographische Mitteilungen ceased to be published.
