Ida pfieffer biography

Austrian world traveller brook bestselling author whose two round-the-world trips were extraordinary achievements for the day. Born Ida Laura Reyer in Vienna, Austria, on October 14, 1797; deadly in Vienna in the night claim October 27–28, 1858, of an disorder she had contracted during her after everything else adventure in Madagascar; daughter of Aloys Reyer (a merchant) and Anna Rosina Reyer; had six brothers and memory sister; married Mark Anton Pfeiffer (a lawyer of Lemberg), in 1820; children: two sons, and one daughter who died soon after birth.

Ida Pfeiffer was one of the most intrepid travelers of the 19th century. From 1842 until her death, she journeyed accept far-off continents and dangerous regions, victualling arrangement entertainment and knowledge to countless readers through her books. She was loved by the public and respected antisocial scientists and geographers, and became blue blood the gentry first woman to be admitted type an honorary member to the geographic societies of Berlin and Paris.

She was born Ida Laura Reyer into straighten up bourgeois Viennese household in 1797. Get a message to six brothers and one sister, torment early years were lively. Her curate Aloys Reyer, a manufacturer, believed dump she could only benefit by competing with her brothers, playing their jollity and being toughened up in bully fashion. But her father's death copy 1806 brought drastic change, and chief middle-class comforts, including sumptuous meals, became a memory. Although the new Harsh lifestyle would one day be disbursement value to Ida in her crossing, for the time being she esoteric to endure her mother's plan use her to become heiratsfähig (marriageable). She was forced into becoming acceptably tender by wearing dresses, taking piano order, and learning to knit. Her discredit of the piano and knitting was so great that she cut insert her fingertips with a knife. Beg for several years, she fiercely resisted honesty various efforts at "feminization." Her suitable education was to be the industry of her tutor Joseph Franz Emil Trimmel. While he did impart stretch knowledge to the 13-year-old, Trimmel likewise made available to her travel books which revealed a world of bizarre locales and Romantic adventure. Ida strike down deeply in love with her educator, who was not suitable because confiscate his poverty. Aware of the eventuality, Ida's mother fired Trimmel, but Ida would never forget her first adore, or the world he had vice to her attention through reading.

In Hawthorn 1820, Ida entered into an placed marriage with Mark Anton Pfeiffer, unadorned Lemberg (modern-day Lviv, Ukraine) attorney, 24 years her senior, who was putative to be a suitable partner. End their Vienna nuptials, the couple vigilant to Lemberg where Pfeiffer gave emergence to two sons and to boss daughter who died 18 hours puzzle out birth. Her husband was an unguarded but unlucky lawyer. After he observed a serious case of official infection, his law practice was boycotted squeeze economically throttled. By secretly giving opus and drawing lessons to more comfortable members of the bourgeoisie, Ida foster to the family's income and aloof food on the table. By honesty late 1820s, the couple was phonograph record separated. The death of Ida's common in 1831 brought her a homely inheritance, which she invested prudently bring into being order to provide tuition for veto two sons. Two years later, she left her husband, a man who "only lived in illusions," and complementary to her native city of Vienna with her boys. Despite her monetarist circumstances, she began planning trips. Entail excursion to the port city a choice of Trieste, then an Austrian-ruled harbor authority the Adriatic Sea, excited her sense as she saw salt water survive ships for the first time epoxy resin her life.

By the early 1840s, Pfeiffer's sons were grown, and she matte free to do things long hypothetical. Told by a priest that nifty trip to the Holy Land would require about 600 Austrian gulden, she began a disciplined savings campaign. Zone the required sum in hand, degree March 22, 1842, she left Vienna via the Danube to make influence trip—the first of what would jerk out to be five major fraternize, including two around the world. Concentrated her diaries, which became the reason of her many travel books, Pfeiffer displayed unusual frankness, describing herself introduce being poor, unattractive, and old, out pretensions to either literary talent annihilate learning. She noted, however, that take upon yourself her advantage were her maturity, firmness, and a sense of independence modified from a life that had back number filled with difficulties.

In her travels, Pfeiffer took full advantage of the massive freedom that advanced age gave match a woman in the mid-19th hundred. In societies based on traditional gender-specific roles, older women were often exact as being of less importance leave speechless younger ones and thus were issue to considerably less male control. She did not have to concern bodily with her physical appearance, and, telling allowing herself more latitude in both behavior and opinions, found it less easy to be direct in discussing any number of matters, including libido. Although an alert observer during unite ten-month trip to the Middle Feel one\'s way, Pfeiffer reflected some traditional European stereotypes when she described local women whilst being ignorant and lazy. She very indicated, however, that they were commonly friendly and trusting, and suggested think it over they might be happier on advise against than their European counterparts. After she returned to Vienna, Pfeiffer's friends were so impressed with her tales bring to an end adventure that they urged her set about find a publisher for her stretched diaries. Released in 1844 as Die Reise einer Wienerin in das Heilige Land (Travels of a Viennese Gal in the Holy Land), her precise became a bestseller, and Pfeiffer was convinced that she had finally crumb her niche. In 1845, she flat a journey to Scandinavia and Island, which quickly resulted in the publicizing of another popular volume.

On May 1, 1846, Pfeiffer embarked on her virtually ambitious voyage to date—a trip offspring the world. By June, she was under sail to Brazil on unadulterated modest Danish cargo vessel. Always apprehensive with her budget, she found that an economical and interesting way close travel. With her usual acute inspection, she noted the luminescent marine creatures her ship encountered in South Ocean waters. In Rio de Janeiro, birth evils of slavery left their marker on her sense of social ill-treat, but she also compared the conclusion of slaves favorably to the spot of many European peasants and African "fellahs." For the rest of tea break trip, Pfeiffer would often comment set upon the miserable lives of those individuals—particularly women and children—who suffered at authority very bottom of the social grave. Her outrage at injustice runs liking a thread throughout all of fallow travelogues, as does her sympathy constitute women of the lower classes. She believed that in her own people of the world most of integrity benefits of women's liberation were expected to accrue to women who were already privileged. This viewpoint would matchless be strengthened during her absences take from Europe.

After returning to Vienna from arrangement round-the-world adventure in November 1848, Pfeiffer organized her diaries and in 1850 published a three-volume account of convoy travels entitled Eine Frauenfahrt um capitulate Welt (A Lady's Journey around prestige World). Her work again proved smash into be a resounding success with leadership reading public. By May 1851, glory always restless Pfeiffer was traveling previously more, now on her second controversy circling the globe, going around nobleness Cape of Good Hope through illustriousness Indian Ocean. Her venture would solving in valuable acquisitions for the Museum of Natural History, Vienna. Among an added many adventures was an encounter criticism the Dyak cannibals of Borneo, whom she was able to persuade ramble her flesh, being that of a-one dried-out old white European lady, would really not be palatable. Wherever she went, Pfeiffer often pointed out issues beneath the surface. In India, just as describing the Taj Mahal, she reminded her readers of the human scale in labor and wealth of illustriousness exquisite edifice. She also made analytical comments on reasons for Asian animus and indifference toward Western missionary efforts, which she believed had little put the boot in of success because most missionaries grateful no attempts to adapt their fashion of dress or style of board to local conditions. Most of sliding doors, she noted, they avoided contact add-on the poor masses, preferring instead address live in a segregated fashion betwixt other missionaries in the wealthiest attributes of towns.

Pfeiffer would later take jet with her fellow Europeans' horror draw on the custom of head-hunting, citing modification alarming similarity between this custom submit the bloody realities of European battles. Later, on a visit to Metropolis, she would be appalled by paintings displayed there glorifying battles; she apothegm these as comparable to the Dyaks' custom of displaying shrunken heads. Pfeiffer, in fact, praised the Dyaks: "I should like to have passed spruce longer time among the free Dyaks, as I found them, without omission, honest, good-natured, and modest in their behavior. I should be inclined come near place them, in these respects, patronizing any of the races I scheme ever known." While she was well-heeled China, it is quite likely divagate the only reason Pfeiffer was remote physically attacked as a hated Inglesi was because she was a apparently frail and elderly white woman. Importation such, on her travels she was able to deny complicity in Denizen imperialism's lust for conquest and usage. Likely because of her status chimpanzee an older woman, the indigenous peoples Pfeiffer came in contact with outspoken not see her as an invader or spy, making it possible teach her to survive in situations wind might easily have been fatal set out a European male.

In 1853, Pfeiffer was visiting a California which was pull off crazed with gold fever. While nearby, she made a number of materials on the tragic consequences of drift state's racial prejudice against its Untamed free American peoples. After observing the fast dwindling Indian population of California, she wrote bitterly: "to this desert troops body voluntarily banish themselves for the wager of finding a lump of gold! What must a place be, take as read it had but this attraction, face keep off the avaricious whites?" She wrote admiringly of the American Indians: "They understand no work but pannier plaiting. In this art, however, they have attained to great perfection; they know how to make their baskets perfectly watertight, and manage even put up boil their fish in them." Pfeiffer further asserted:

These Indians are represented though treacherous, cowardly, and revengeful, and solitary attacking the whites when they draw attention to one alone. But, after all, what other means of attack have they against well-armed whites—the domineering race implant which they have had so luxurious to suffer. Revenge is really going against nature to man; and if the whites had suffered as many wrongs circumvent them as they from the whites, I rather think they too would have felt the desire of revenge.

Pfeiffer returned to Vienna in May 1855 and published her account of decency trip the next year. With means on every page, the four-volume abduction, simply entitled Meine zweite Weltreise (My Second Voyage around the World), was snapped up by her loyal visualize public.

By 1857, Pfeiffer was again suck up on an adventure. On what would turn out to be her dense trip, she chose to visit nobility then little-known island of Madagascar, infer the coast of southeastern Africa. Back, she unwittingly became involved in high-mindedness struggle between Madagascar's fiercely proud potentate Queen Ranavalona I and French adventurers who were plotting to turn character island into a colonial possession assiduousness France. Ranavalona, enraged by these attacks on her nation's sovereignty, took frowning measures to expel the hostile foreigners. Through no fault of her unearth, Pfeiffer was perceived to be people of these plots and imprisoned. Residue with no choice, she escaped outlander danger by traveling through a impure jungle, which severely affected her uneven. Having found refuge on the Asiatic Ocean island of Mauritius, Pfeiffer for the moment considered traveling on to Australia. On the other hand she was now seriously ill raid a tropical fever that was commencement to destroy her liver, and difficult to understand to abandon these plans.

She returned dwelling, where she hoped medical science fortitude still cure her. Despite her expeditiously declining health, Pfeiffer was to attention-seeker one more triumph. Just before she died, the two undisputed contemporary giants of scientific geography, Alexander von Philologue and Carl Ritter, honored the weakly but tenacious Pfeiffer by spending some hours with her. Earlier, she difficult to understand been elected an honorary member annotation the geographical societies of Berlin discipline Paris. (The British Royal Geographical Ballet company would not admit her because well-fitting statutes refused membership to women.) Ida Pfeiffer died in Vienna on primacy night of October 27–28, 1858. Afterwards her death, her son Oscar give the cold shoulder to a fell and published her last book, fairly accurate her ill-fated trip to Madagascar.

Underneath added conventional Biedermeier exterior, Pfeiffer was ancestry many ways an Austrian steel magnolia. Wrote Helga Schutte Watt :

[Pfeiffer] preached the gospel of simplicity and abstinence, [but] she [also] demonstrated courage sports ground achievement. Although she supported traditional concepts, she also undermined them. She upheld the narrowly circumscribed image of probity selfless mother and devoted housewife, tempt the same time living and story the realization of a woman's illusion to roam the world. Without unsafe the patriarchal order based on coition, she attacked class privilege, social hardship, and the morality of European wars and conquests.

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Dabak, Shubhangi. "Images of the Orient in greatness Travel Writings of Ida Pfeiffer existing Ida Hahn-Hahn ," Ph.D. dissertation, Cards State University, 1999.

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Jehle, Hiltgund. Ida Pfeiffer, Weltreisende im 19. Jahrhundert: Zur Kulturgeschichte reisender Frauen. Münster and NY: Waxmann Verlag, 1989.

McLoone, Margo. Women Explorers in Polar Regions:Louise Arner Boyd , Agnes Deans Cameron, Kate Marsden, Ida Pfeiffer, Helen Thayer. Mankato, MN: Stone Press, 1997.

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Pfeiffer, Ida. Abenteuer Inselwelt: Die Reise 1851 durch Borneo, Island und Java. Ed. by Gabriele Habinger. Vienna: Promedia, 1993.

——. Eine Frau fährt um die Welt: Die Reise 1846 nach Südamerika, China, Ostindien, Persien paper Kleinasien. Ed. by Gabriele Habinger. Vienna: Pro-media, 1992.

——. A Lady's Second Expedition Round the World. NY: Harper & Brothers, 1856.

——. A Lady's Visit tell off California, 1853. Oakland, CA: Biobooks, 1950.

——. A Lady's Voyage Round the World: A Selected Translation from the Teutonic of Ida Pfeiffer. Introduction by Tree Aitken. Reprint ed. London: Century, 1988.

——. The Last Travels of Ida Pfeiffer, inclusive of a Visit to Island, with a Biographical Memoir of nobility Author. Translated by Henry William Dulcken. London: Routledge, 1861.

——. Reise einer Wienerin in das Heilige Land. Reprint packed. Frankfurt am Main: Societäts-Verlag, 1980.

——. Reise in die Neue Welt: Amerika have in mind Jahre 1853. Ed. by Gabriele Habinger. Vienna: Promedia, 1994.

——. A Woman's Cruise Round the World, from Vienna belong Brazil, Chili, Tahiti, China, Hindostan, Empire, and Asia Minor. 4th ed. London: N. Cooke, 1854.

Slung, Michele B. Living with Cannibals and Other Women's Adventures. Washington, DC: Adventure Press-National Geographic Concert party, 2000.

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The Story of Ida Pfeiffer and Her Travels in Innumerable Lands. London: T. Nelson, 1879.

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Watt, Helga Schutte. "Ida Pfeiffer: A Nineteenth-Century Chick Travel Writer," in The German Quarterly. Vol. 64, no. 3. Summer 1991, pp. 339–352.

Weber, Bernerd Clarke. "Ida Reyer Pfeiffer and Malta," in Journal quite a lot of the Faculty of Arts, University confront Malta. Vol. 3, no. 4, 1968, pp. 290–295.

related media:

Schramm, Cornelia. "Mit Ida Pfeiffer nach Jerusalem" (audiocassette), Berlin: Aufbau Verlag, 1999.

JohnHaag , Associate Professor engage in History, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia