, 1832 - Awsa, Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

, 7 November 1875) was a Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 administrator

Administrator of the Government

An Administrator in the constitutional practice of some countries in the Commonwealth is a person who fulfils a role similar to that of a Governor or a Governor-General...

 and explorer of the Horn of Africa

Horn of Africa

The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in East Africa that juts hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent...

.

Biography

He was born in Olten

Olten

Olten is a town in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland and capital of the district of the same name.Olten's railway station is within 30 minutes of Zurich, Bern, Basel, and Lucerne by train, and is a rail hub of Switzerland.-History:...

, and studied science and history at the University of Bern, then later took courses in Oriental studies

Oriental studies

Oriental studies is the academic field of study that embraces Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology; in recent years the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Asian studies and Middle Eastern studies...

 at Munich University and the Sorbonne

Sorbonne

The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...

. He was the son of Josef Munzinger, member of the Swiss Federal Council

Swiss Federal Council

The Federal Council is the seven-member executive council which constitutes the federal government of Switzerland and serves as the Swiss collective head of state....

.

In 1852 Munzinger arrived at Cairo

Cairo

Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

, where he spent a year improving his Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

. Entering a French mercantile house, led a trading expedition to various parts of the Red Sea. Until 1855 he served as French consul at Massawa

Massawa

Massawa, also known as Mitsiwa Massawa, also known as Mitsiwa Massawa, also known as Mitsiwa (Ge'ez ምጽዋዕ , formerly ባጽዕ is a city on the Red Sea coast of Eritrea. An important port for many centuries, it was ruled by a succession of polities, including the Axumite Empire, the Umayyad Caliphate,...

, when he moved to Keren

Keren, Eritrea

Keren is the second largest city in Eritrea. It is situated about 91 kilometers northwest of Asmara. The town serves as the capital of the Anseba region, and is home to the Bilen ethnic group.-History:...

 where he spent the next six years exploring the lands of the Bogos. In 1861 Munzinger joined Theodor von Heuglin

Theodor von Heuglin

Martin Theodor von Heuglin , was a German explorer and ornithologist.-Biography:...

 in an attempt to explore central Africa, but separated from him in November, proceeding along the Gash and Atbara to Khartoum

Khartoum

Khartoum is the capital and largest city of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as "al-Mogran"...

. There he succeeded von Heuglin as leader of the expedition, and travelled in 1862 to Kordofan, but failed to reach Darfur

Darfur

Darfur is a region in western Sudan. An independent sultanate for several hundred years, it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The region is divided into three federal states: West Darfur, South Darfur, and North Darfur...

 and Wadai. After a short stay in Europe in 1863, Munzinger returned to the north and north-east borderlands of Ethiopia.

In 1865 Munzinger managed the British

British Raj

British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

 consulate along the border of Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

, but remained in Massawa

Massawa

Massawa, also known as Mitsiwa Massawa, also known as Mitsiwa Massawa, also known as Mitsiwa (Ge'ez ምጽዋዕ , formerly ባጽዕ is a city on the Red Sea coast of Eritrea. An important port for many centuries, it was ruled by a succession of polities, including the Axumite Empire, the Umayyad Caliphate,...

, after the 1868 British invasion of Ethiopia

1868 Expedition to Abyssinia

The British 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia was a punitive expedition carried out by armed forces of the British Empire against the Ethiopian Empire...

, where he became the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 consul

Consul

Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...

. There, according to Augustus B. Wylde, he married a woman of Hamasien

Hamasien

Hamasien was the name of an histoical province including and surrounding Asmara, now part of modern Eritrea. The region has been divided and distributed amongst the modern Maekel, Debub, Northern Red Sea, Gash-Barka and Anseba regions....

 and convinced one of the local warlords, Wolde Mikael, to cede the province of Hamasien to France. Munzinger sailed to France, and by early 1870 had an expedition ready at Toulon

Toulon

Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....

 to sail to Massawa when the Franco-Prussian War

Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...

 broke out, and French resources were diverted to this higher priority, whereupon he left the service of the French. In July of that year we was Aden

Aden

Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...

, where he joined Captain S.B. Miles on an expedition into the interior of the southern Arabian peninsula. He then left the French and entered the service of the 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...

ian government of Khedive Ismail, serving as governor of the Keren region and Massawa (modern-day Eritrea

Eritrea

Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...

). Once he reached his command, his first act was to place the Bogos once again under Egyptian rule.

In 1875, Munzinger led one of the three prongs of the Egyptian attack against Ethiopia, marching inland from Tadjoura

Tadjoura

Tadjoura is the oldest town in Djibouti and the capital of the Tadjourah region. Lying on the Gulf of Tadjoura, it is home to a population of around 25,000 inhabitants.Tadjoura has an airstrip and is linked by ferry with Djibouti City...

, but his troops were overwhelmed by the army of Mahammad ibn Hanfadhe, Sultan of Aussa

Mudaito dynasty

-History:The Aussa Sultanate or Afar Sultanate succeeded the earlier Imamate of Aussa. The latter polity had come into existence in 1577, when Muhammed Jasa moved his capital from Harar to Aussa with the split of the Adal Sultanate into Aussa and the Harari city-state...

, and he was killed in battle. Wylde includes in the list of dead Munzinger's wife and child.

Writings

Munzinger published the following works:

• Über die Sitten und das Recht der Bogos (1859)
• Ostafrikanische Studien (1864; 2nd ed., 1883)
• Die deutsche Expedition in Ostafrika (1865)
• Vocabulaire de la langue de Tigré (1865)

He wrote numerous geographical papers, and a memoir on the northern highlands of modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea for the Zeitschrift für allgemeine Erdkunde, new series, volume 3.

External links