Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege-A German Engineer of Mining and Metallurgy in Portugal and Brazil

摘要

Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege was born in 1777 at Aue, near Eschwege/Hesse. He studied public administration, mining and metallurgy at the universities of Gottingen and GieBen. After some practical training he moved to Portugal, and as an officer of the Royal Portuguese army became head of the blast furnace works of Foz'd Alge and inspected all mining activities in Portugal. When the royal court moved to Brazil in consequence of the Napoleonic invasion, Eschwege followed to Rio de Janeiro. There he became head of the mining inspectorate of Minas Gerais and reformed technically and economically the gold production. He founded an iron-works and studied in detail Brazilian geology, visiting most parts of the country. Several maps were published by him and his main literary work became "Pluto Brasiliensis", which served for many years as a text book of Brazilian geology. All this earned him the name of "father of the Brazilian geology". In 1821, after his return to Portugal, he was appointed head of them mining inspectorate of the whole kingdom. Besides his normal work, he built as architect the summer residence "Castelo da Pena" for the Portuguese king. He died at the age of 78 in Hesse.