author
Karl Koldewey
1837–1908
A pioneering German Arctic explorer, he led the first two German expeditions toward the North Pole and helped turn polar travel into careful scientific work. His voyages in the late 1860s made his name closely linked with the early history of Arctic research.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Bücken, Hanover, in 1837, Carl Christian Koldewey went to sea as a teenager and later trained further in navigation and the sciences. That mix of practical seamanship and scientific interest shaped the work he became known for.
He is best remembered for leading the first and second German North Polar Expeditions, in 1868 and 1869–70. Those voyages explored parts of Greenland and the Arctic seas, and his name was later given to places such as the Koldewey Station in Greenland, reflecting the lasting mark of his expeditions.
Koldewey also wrote about these journeys, helping bring Arctic exploration to a wider reading public. He died in Hamburg in 1908, but he remains an important figure in the story of nineteenth-century polar research.