author
B. G. (Benjamin Gottlieb) Kohlmeister
1784–1874
A Moravian missionary and travel writer, he is remembered for vivid accounts of early nineteenth-century Labrador and Ungava. His work brings together exploration, faith, and close observation of Inuit life during a period of intense colonial contact.
1 Audiobook
Journal of a Voyage from Okkak, on the Coast of Labrador, to Ungava Bay, Westward of Cape Chudleigh Undertaken to Explore the Coast, and Visit the Esquimaux in That Unknown Region
by B. G. (Benjamin Gottlieb) Kohlmeister, Georg Kmoch
About the author
Benjamin Gottlieb Kohlmeister was a Moravian missionary, translator, and writer best known for his work in Labrador and for the journal of his voyage from Okkak to Ungava Bay. Reliable biographical sources identify him as an eighteenth- and nineteenth-century missionary connected with the Moravian Church, and they describe his writing as part of the record of missionary life and travel in northern Canada.
He appears to have come from modest beginnings and entered Moravian service after training as a craftsman. In Labrador, he worked among Inuit communities and became associated with missionary exploration along the northern coast. His published journal, written with George Kmoch, is still noted for its firsthand account of travel, encounter, and geography in the region.
The dates attached to his name in some book listings are not fully consistent across sources. A strong scholarly source, the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, gives his lifespan as 1756 to 1844, so details that depend on the alternate 1784–1874 dates should be treated with caution.