author
Ferdinand Blumentritt
1853–1913
An Austrian scholar who became one of the best-known European students of the Philippines, he is remembered especially for his warm, long-distance friendship with José Rizal. His letters and books helped shape how Filipino history and culture were understood in Europe.
1 Audiobook
Versuch einer Ethnographie der Philippinen
by Ferdinand Blumentritt
About the author
Born in Prague in 1853, Ferdinand Blumentritt was an Austrian teacher, school principal, lecturer, and writer who devoted much of his life to studying the Philippines. He wrote about Philippine history, geography, and ethnography, building a remarkable reputation as a serious scholar of the country even though he never visited it.
He is especially well known for his friendship with José Rizal. Their correspondence became an important record of ideas, reform, and mutual respect, and it remains one of the best-known intellectual friendships connected to Philippine history.
Blumentritt died in Litoměřice in 1913, but his name has endured most strongly in the Philippines, where he is remembered as a sympathetic European voice and a trusted friend of Rizal.