Abstract
Vilnius University This article discusses the contribution to the studies of the ‘Eastern’ and ‘Southern’ lands in the 18th century by naturalist, travel writer, and ethnologist George Forster, who had accompanied his father, Johann Reinhold Forster, on Captain James Cook’s expedition of 1772–5 to circumnavigate the globe and who was a professor of natural history at Vilnius University from 1784 to 1787. The paper presents the background of European long-distance navigation, examines Forster’s contribution to Cook’s second voyage, and reconsiders his work completed at the Vilnian Academy against the broader perspective of the European notions of travel literature and ethnography of the Pacific region, as well as the prospect of Oriental studies, gradually emerging as an academic field in Western Europe and, later on, in Vilnius.
Highlights
When Poland-born German naturalist Georg Forster (1754–1794)1 resided in Vilnius, Lithuania, in the capacity of professor of natural history at Vilnius University, he was translating into German the account of the last voyage of the late Captain James Cook (1728–1779), pursuing his famous dispute with Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) about the origin and definition of race,2 and eventually making plans for his ISSN 1648–2662
This article discusses the contribution to the studies of the ‘Eastern’ and ‘Southern’ lands in the 18th century by naturalist, travel writer, and ethnologist George Forster, who had accompanied his father, Johann Reinhold Forster, on Captain James Cook’s expedition of 1772–5 to circumnavigate the globe and who was a professor of natural history at Vilnius University from 1784 to 1787
Interest of Polish and Lithuanian intellectuals in cultures different from those in Europe. It is all the more important since Forster was in many ways a pioneer, formulating his own ideas in the newly emerging disciplines of science and even establishing the foundation for the disciplines themselves as in the case of ethnology. His independent research conducted in Lithuania outside of the duties assigned to him by Vilnius University is, at its core, reflective of his long-term intellectual concerns, which had developed as a result of his ocean voyages, and of his desire to speak of those concerns to European academia, of which the scholars and students at Vilnian Academy were aspiring to be a part
Summary
When Poland-born German naturalist Georg Forster (1754–1794) resided in Vilnius, Lithuania, in the capacity of professor of natural history at Vilnius University, he was translating into German the account of the last voyage of the late Captain James Cook (1728–1779), pursuing his famous dispute with Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) about the origin and definition of race, and eventually making plans for his next. Interest of Polish and Lithuanian intellectuals in cultures different from those in Europe It is all the more important since Forster was in many ways a pioneer, formulating his own ideas in the newly emerging disciplines of science and even establishing the foundation for the disciplines themselves as in the case of ethnology. His independent research conducted in Lithuania outside of the duties assigned to him by Vilnius University is, at its core, reflective of his long-term intellectual concerns, which had developed as a result of his ocean voyages, and of his desire to speak of those concerns to European academia, of which the scholars and students at Vilnian Academy were aspiring to be a part
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