The New International Encyclopædia/Ratzel, Friedrich

RATZEL, rät′sel, Friedrich (1844-1904). A German geographer and traveler, born at Karlsruhe, and educated in science at Karlsruhe, Heidelberg, Jena, Berlin, and elsewhere. As correspondent of the Kölnische Zeitung he traveled in 1869 in Italy, Sicily, and Southern France, and in 1872-75 in the United States, Mexico, and Cuba. In 1876 he became professor of geography at the Polytechnic School of Munich, and in 1886 was appointed to a similar position at the University of Leipzig. Among his printed works are: Sein und Werden der organischen Welt (1868); Wandertage eines Naturforschers (1873-74); Vorgeschichte des europäischen Menschen (1875); Städte- und Kulturbilder aus Nordamerika (1876); Die Vereinigten Staaten von Nordamerika (1878-80); Die Erde, in 24 Vorträgen (1881); Völkerkunde (1895); and Die Erde und das Leben (1802). With Schweinfurth he edited Emin Pasha's letters of travel and reports (Leipzig, 1888).