Robert Hartmann was a German naturalist

Naturalist

Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...

, anatomist and ethnographer.

Career

A native of Blankenburg am Harz

Blankenburg am Harz

Blankenburg is a town and health resort in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, at the north foot of the Harz Mountains, southwest of Halberstadt....

, Hartmann studied medicine and science in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, and in 1865 was an instructor of comparative zoology

Zoology

Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...

 and physiology

Physiology

Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...

 at the agricultural academy in Proskau

Prószków

Prószków / is a town in Opole County, Opole Voivodeship, Poland, with 2,660 inhabitants .Prószków/Proskau has been bilingual in Polish and German since 2006.-Twin towns — Sister cities:Prószków is twinned with:* Pruszków, * Hünfeld,...

. In 1873 he became a professor of anatomy

Anatomy

Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...

 at the University of Berlin. During his career he performed extensive scientific travels throughout Africa and Europe.

In 1859-60 he accompanied Adalbert von Barnim (1841-1860), the son of Adalbert of Prussia

Adalbert of Prussia

Prince Adalbert of Prussia was a son of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia and Landgravine Marie Anna of Hesse-Homburg. He was a naval theorist and admiral. He was instrumental during the Revolutions of 1848 in founding the first unified German fleet, the Reichsflotte...

 (1811-1873) on a mission to northeastern Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 (Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, Sudan

Sudan

Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...

 and Nubia

Nubia

Nubia is a region along the Nile river, which is located in northern Sudan and southern Egypt.There were a number of small Nubian kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages, the last of which collapsed in 1504, when Nubia became divided between Egypt and the Sennar sultanate resulting in the Arabization...

). Here Hartmann performed ethnographical

Ethnography

Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...

, zoological

Zoology

Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...

 and geographical studies in the region. On the journey, Adalbert von Barnim became ill and died on June 12, 1860 at Roseires in the Sudan. Hartmann wrote about the expedition in a 1863 treatise called Reisen des Freihern von Barnim durch Nordostafrika.

In 1869 he co-founded the Zeitschrift für Ethnologie (Journal of Ethnology) with Adolf Bastian

Adolf Bastian

Adolf Bastian was a 19th century polymath best remembered for his contributions to the development of ethnography and the development of anthropology as a discipline...

 (1826-1905). In the 1870s, Hartmann was vice-president of the Gesellschaft für Erdkunde (Geographical Society) in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 and general secretary of the Anthropologischen Gesellschaft (Anthropological Society). He penned numerous articles on eastern Africa, as well as a book on anthropoid

Anthropoid

Anthropoid may refer to:*Simian, monkeys and apes *Anthropoides, a genus of cranes*Operation Anthropoid, the codename for the assassination of SS-Obergruppenführer and Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia Reinhard Heydrich...

apes, in which he discusses the possibility that humans and apes may have a common ancestor.

Selected publications

• Naturgeschichtlich-medizinische skizze der Nilländer (Berlin 1865-66)
• Die Nigritier (Berlin. 1876, Bd. 1)
• Die Völker Afrikas (Leipzig 1880); (The Peoples of Africa) (1880)
• Handbuch der Anatomie des Menschen (Handbook of Human Anatomy) (1881)
• Der Gorilla (Leipzig 1881)
• Die menschenähnlichen Affen (Anthropoid apes) (Leipzig 1883)
• Abessinien und die Nilländer (Abyssinia and The Nile Valley) (1883)
• Madagaskar und die Inseln Seychellen, Aldabra, Komoren und Maskarenen (Leipzig 1886).