Joseph Dalton Hooker
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of Charles Darwin's closest friend. For twenty years he served as director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, succeeding his father, William Jackson Hooker, was awarded the highest honours of British science. Hooker was born in Halesworth, England, he was the second son of the famous botanist Sir William Jackson Hooker, Regius Professor of Botany, Maria Sarah Turner, eldest daughter of the banker Dawson Turner and sister-in-law of Francis Palgrave. From age seven, Hooker attended his father's lectures at Glasgow University, taking an early interest in plant distribution and the voyages of explorers like Captain James Cook, he was educated at the Glasgow High School and went on to study medicine at Glasgow University, graduating M. D. in 1839. This degree qualified him for employment in the Naval Medical Service: he joined the renowned polar explorer Captain James Clark Ross's Antarctic expedition to the South Magnetic Pole after receiving a commission as Assistant-Surgeon on HMS Erebus.
On this expedition, Hooker was granted full access to the private library of Richard Clement Moody Governor of the Falkland Islands: Hooker described the library as'excellent', developed a close friendship with Moody. In 1851 he married daughter of Darwin's mentor, John Stevens Henslow, they had four sons and three daughters: William Henslow Hooker Harriet Anne Hooker married William Turner Thiselton-Dyer Charles Paget Hooker Maria Elizabeth Hooker died aged 6. Brian Harvey Hodgson Hooker Reginald Hawthorn Hooker statistician Grace Ellen Hooker Frances Harriet Henslow's contribution to his work included translating French botanical texts which Hooker edited. After his first wife's death in 1874, in 1876 he married Lady Hyacinth Jardine, daughter of William Samuel Symonds and the widow of Sir William Jardine, they had two sons: Joseph Symonds Hooker Richard Symonds Hooker. Lady Hooker was elected a Fellow of the RSPB in 1905. Joseph Hooker died in his sleep at midnight at home, the Camp, Sunningdale in Berkshire, on 10 December 1911 after a short and minor illness.
The Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey offered a grave near Darwin's in the nave but insisted that Hooker be cremated before. His widow, declined the proposal and Hooker's body was buried, as he wished to be, alongside his father in the churchyard of St. Anne's Church, Kew, on Kew Green, within short distance of Kew Gardens, his memorial tablet in the church, with a motif of five plants, was designed by Matilds Smith. Hooker's first expedition, led by James Clark Ross, consisted of two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. Hooker was the youngest of the 128-man crew, he sailed on the Erebus and was assistant to Robert McCormick, who in addition to being the ship's Surgeon was instructed to collect zoological and geological specimens. The ships sailed on 30 September 1839. Before journeying to Antarctica they visited Madeira, Tenerife and Quail Island in the Cape Verde archipelago, St Paul Rocks, Trinidade east of Brazil, St Helena, the Cape of Good Hope. Hooker made plant collections at each location and while travelling drew these and specimens of algae and sea life pulled aboard using tow nets.
From the Cape they entered the Southern Ocean. Their first stop was the Crozet Islands where they set down on Possession Island to deliver coffee to sealers, they departed for the Kerguelen Islands. Hooker identified 18 flowering plants, 35 mosses and liverworts, 25 lichens and 51 algae, including some that were not described by surgeon William Anderson when James Cook had visited the islands in 1772; the expedition spent some time in Hobart, Van Diemen's Land, moved on to the Auckland Islands and Campbell Island, onward to Antarctica to locate the South Magnetic Pole. After spending 5 months in the Antarctic they returned to resupply in Hobart went on to Sydney, the Bay of Islands in New Zealand from 18 August to 23 November 1841, they left New Zealand to return to Antarctica. After spending 138 days at sea, a collision between the Erebus and Terror, they sailed to the Falkland Islands, to Tierra del Fuego, back to the Falklands and onward to their third sortie into the Antarctic; when Hooker arrived on the Falkland Islands with the expedition of Ross, he developed a close friendship with Richard Clement Moody, the Governor of the Falkland Islands.
Moody granted Hooker full use of his personal library, which Hooker described as'excellent', Hooker described Moody as'a active and intelligent young man, most anxious to improve the colony and gain every information respecting its products'. Subsequently, the Ross expedition made a landing at Cockburn Island and after leaving the Antarctic, stopped at the Cape, St Helena and Ascension Island; the ships arrived back in England on 4 September 1843. In 1845, Hooker applied for the Chair of Botany at the University of Edinburgh; this position included duties at the Royal Botanic Gardens of Scotland, so the appointment was influenced by local politicians. An unusually protracted struggle ensued, resulting in the election of the locally born and bred botanist, John Hutton Balfour; the Darwin correspondence, now public, makes clear Darwin's sense of shock at this unexpected outcome. Hooker declined a chair at Glasgow University which beca
Botany
Botany called plant science, plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist; the term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek word βοτάνη meaning "pasture", "grass", or "fodder". Traditionally, botany has included the study of fungi and algae by mycologists and phycologists with the study of these three groups of organisms remaining within the sphere of interest of the International Botanical Congress. Nowadays, botanists study 410,000 species of land plants of which some 391,000 species are vascular plants, 20,000 are bryophytes. Botany originated in prehistory as herbalism with the efforts of early humans to identify – and cultivate – edible and poisonous plants, making it one of the oldest branches of science. Medieval physic gardens attached to monasteries, contained plants of medical importance, they were forerunners of the first botanical gardens attached to universities, founded from the 1540s onwards.
One of the earliest was the Padua botanical garden. These gardens facilitated the academic study of plants. Efforts to catalogue and describe their collections were the beginnings of plant taxonomy, led in 1753 to the binomial system of Carl Linnaeus that remains in use to this day. In the 19th and 20th centuries, new techniques were developed for the study of plants, including methods of optical microscopy and live cell imaging, electron microscopy, analysis of chromosome number, plant chemistry and the structure and function of enzymes and other proteins. In the last two decades of the 20th century, botanists exploited the techniques of molecular genetic analysis, including genomics and proteomics and DNA sequences to classify plants more accurately. Modern botany is a broad, multidisciplinary subject with inputs from most other areas of science and technology. Research topics include the study of plant structure and differentiation, reproduction and primary metabolism, chemical products, diseases, evolutionary relationships and plant taxonomy.
Dominant themes in 21st century plant science are molecular genetics and epigenetics, which are the mechanisms and control of gene expression during differentiation of plant cells and tissues. Botanical research has diverse applications in providing staple foods, materials such as timber, rubber and drugs, in modern horticulture and forestry, plant propagation and genetic modification, in the synthesis of chemicals and raw materials for construction and energy production, in environmental management, the maintenance of biodiversity. Botany originated as the study and use of plants for their medicinal properties. Many records of the Holocene period date early botanical knowledge as far back as 10,000 years ago; this early unrecorded knowledge of plants was discovered in ancient sites of human occupation within Tennessee, which make up much of the Cherokee land today. The early recorded history of botany includes many ancient writings and plant classifications. Examples of early botanical works have been found in ancient texts from India dating back to before 1100 BC, in archaic Avestan writings, in works from China before it was unified in 221 BC.
Modern botany traces its roots back to Ancient Greece to Theophrastus, a student of Aristotle who invented and described many of its principles and is regarded in the scientific community as the "Father of Botany". His major works, Enquiry into Plants and On the Causes of Plants, constitute the most important contributions to botanical science until the Middle Ages seventeen centuries later. Another work from Ancient Greece that made an early impact on botany is De Materia Medica, a five-volume encyclopedia about herbal medicine written in the middle of the first century by Greek physician and pharmacologist Pedanius Dioscorides. De Materia Medica was read for more than 1,500 years. Important contributions from the medieval Muslim world include Ibn Wahshiyya's Nabatean Agriculture, Abū Ḥanīfa Dīnawarī's the Book of Plants, Ibn Bassal's The Classification of Soils. In the early 13th century, Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati, Ibn al-Baitar wrote on botany in a systematic and scientific manner. In the mid-16th century, "botanical gardens" were founded in a number of Italian universities – the Padua botanical garden in 1545 is considered to be the first, still in its original location.
These gardens continued the practical value of earlier "physic gardens" associated with monasteries, in which plants were cultivated for medical use. They supported the growth of botany as an academic subject. Lectures were given about the plants grown in the gardens and their medical uses demonstrated. Botanical gardens came much to northern Europe. Throughout this period, botany remained subordinate to medicine. German physician Leonhart Fuchs was one of "the three German fathers of botany", along with theologian Otto Brunfels and physician Hieronymus Bock. Fuchs and Brunfels broke away from the tradition of copying earlier works to make original observations of their own. Bock created his own system of plant classification. Physician Valerius Cordus authored a botanically and pharmacologically important herbal Historia Plantarum in 1544 and a pharmacopoeia of lasting importance, the Dispensatorium
Bothriechis schlegelii
Bothriechis schlegelii, the eyelash viper, is a venomous pit viper species found in Central and South America. Small and arboreal, this species is characterized by a wide array of color variations, as well as the superciliary scales above the eyes, it is the most common of the green palm-pitvipers, is present in zoological exhibits. The specific name schlegelii honors Hermann Schlegel, a German ornithologist and herpetologist. For other common names see below. No subspecies are recognized; the eyelash viper is a small species of pitviper, with adults ranging from 55–82 cm long, females being longer and more variable in size than males, which can grow to 69 cm long. It has a wide, triangular-shaped head, eyes with vertical pupils. Like all pit vipers, it is solenoglyphous, having large, hypodermic needle-like fangs in the front of the upper jaw that fold back when not in use, has heat sensitive organs, or pits, located on either side of the head between the eye and nostril, its most distinguishing feature, origin of its common name, is the set of modified scales above the eyes that look much like eyelashes.
The eyelashes are thought to aid in camouflage, breaking up the snake's outline among the foliage where it hides. B. schlegelii occurs in a wide range of colors, including red, brown, green pink, as well as various combinations thereof. It has black or brown speckling on the base color. No external features distinguish the two sexes. Common names of B. schlegelii include the eyelash viper, eyelash pit viper, eyelash palm viper, eyelash palm-pitviper, Schlegel's viper, Schlegel's pit viper, Schlegel's palm viper, eyelash snake, eyelash lancehead, eyelash mountain viper, horned palm viper. In Spanish, the primary language of countries comprising its distribution, common names include bocaracá, oropel, víbora bocaracá, toboba pestanas, víbora de pestañas, serpiente loro; the geographic range of B. schlegelii extends from southern Mexico, southeastward on the Atlantic plains and lowlands through Central America to northern South America in Colombia and Venezuela. It is found on the Pacific versant and lowlands in parts of Costa Rica, Colombia and Peru.
It occurs in mesic forest at elevations from sea level to 2,640 m altitude. The type locality is “Popayan”. B. schlegelii prefers lower altitude, tropical areas with dense foliage not far from a permanent water source. One study noted the preference of B. schlegelii for shady ravines. Like other Bothriechis members, B. schlegelii has a strong prehensile tail. It is nocturnal, consuming small rodents, frogs and small birds, it will not hesitate to strike if harassed. A typical ambush predator, it waits patiently for unsuspecting prey to wander by. Sometimes, it is known to select a specific ambush site and return to it every year in time for the spring migration of birds. Studies have indicated. Sometimes B. schlegelii will employ what is known as “caudal luring”, wiggling the tail in worm-like motions to encourage potential prey to move within striking range. There is a myth among villagers in some small areas of South America that the eyelash viper will wink, flashing its "eyelashes" at its victim, following a venomous strike.
Snakes are not physiologically capable of such behavior, as they have no eyelids and can not close their eyes. The eyelash viper reaches sexual maturity at around two years of age, the ovoviviparous species reproduces throughout the year in warm environments. Females carry eggs for around six months before they hatch internally, where the young complete their development. Pregnant females have enlarged lower abdomens, may stop eating in stages of pregnancy. In a typical brood they give birth to 2–20 live young, which are 15–20 cm in length and appear physically similar to adults. Males engage in a sometimes hours-long courtship ritual called a "dance of the adders", in which two males posture and intimidate one another in an upright, "cobra-like" stance until one is pushed away or falls to the ground, they are polygynous, mate at night. Despite the inherent danger of its venom, B. schlegelii is available in the exotic animal trade, is well represented in zoos worldwide. It is captive bred for color and pattern.
Exporting from the wild is not as common as it once is not unknown. In general they make hardy captives feeding on provided mice; some authorities recognize a montane form, treated either as a subspecies or as a species. Found in the province of San José in Costa Rica, it was sometimes referred to as the eyelash mountain viper, while more recent publications recognizing the species designation refer to it as the blotched palm-pitviper. Eyelash vipers have not been evaluated by the IUCN Red List, were removed from CITES Appendix III in 2002. While not listed as threatened, they could be at risk of habitat loss from increased deforestation for timber and urbanization. List of crotaline species and subspecies Crotalinae by common name Crotalinae by taxonomic synonyms Snakebite Bothriechis schlegelii at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 12 December 2007. Eyelash viper at WhoZoo. Accessed 27 November 2008. Eyelash pit viper. Accessed 27 November 2008. Berthold AA. "Über verschiedene neue oder seltene Reptilien aus Neu-Grenada und Crustaceen aus China ".
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Java
Java is an island of Indonesia, bordered by the Indian Ocean on the south and the Java Sea on the north. With a population of over 141 million or 145 million, Java is the home to 56.7 percent of the Indonesian population and is the world's most populous island. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is located on its northwestern coast. Much of Indonesian history took place on Java, it was the center of powerful Hindu-Buddhist empires, the Islamic sultanates, the core of the colonial Dutch East Indies. Java was the center of the Indonesian struggle for independence during the 1930s and 1940s. Java dominates Indonesia politically and culturally. Four of Indonesia's eight UNESCO world heritage sites are located in Java: Ujung Kulon National Park, Borobudur Temple, Prambanan Temple, Sangiran Early Man Site. Formed as the result of volcanic eruptions from geologic subduction between Sunda Plate and Australian Plate, Java is the 13th largest island in the world and the fifth largest in Indonesia by landmass at about 138,800 square kilometres.
A chain of volcanic mountains forms an east–west spine along the island. Three main languages are spoken on the island: Javanese and Madurese, where Javanese is the most spoken. Furthermore, most residents are bilingual, speaking Indonesian as their second language. While the majority of the people of Java are Muslim, Java's population comprises people of diverse religious beliefs and cultures. Java is divided into four administrative provinces, West Java, Central Java, East Java, Banten, two special regions and Yogyakarta; the origins of the name "Java" are not clear. One possibility is that the island was named after the jáwa-wut plant, said to be common in the island during the time, that prior to Indianization the island had different names. There are other possible sources: the word jaú and its variations mean "beyond" or "distant". And, in Sanskrit yava means barley, a plant for which the island was famous. "Yavadvipa" is mentioned in the Ramayana. Sugriva, the chief of Rama's army dispatched his men to Yavadvipa, the island of Java, in search of Sita.
It was hence referred to in India by the Sanskrit name "yāvaka dvīpa". Java is mentioned in the ancient Tamil text Manimekalai by Chithalai Chathanar that states that Java had a kingdom with a capital called Nagapuram. Another source states that the "Java" word is derived from a Proto-Austronesian root word, Iawa that meaning "home"; the great island of Iabadiu or Jabadiu was mentioned in Ptolemy's Geographia composed around 150 CE in the Roman Empire. Iabadiu is said to mean "barley island", to be rich in gold, have a silver town called Argyra at the west end; the name indicates Java, seems to be derived from the Sanskrit name Java-dvipa. The annual news of Songshu and Liangshu referred Java as She-po, He-ling called it She-po again until the Yuan dynasty, where they began mentioning Zhao-Wa. According to Ma Huan's book, the Chinese call Java as Chao-Wa, the island was called She-pó in the past; when John of Marignolli returned from China to Avignon, he stayed at the Kingdom of Saba for a few months, which he said had many elephants and led by a queen.
Java lies between Sumatra to Bali to the east. Borneo lies to the north and Christmas Island is to the south, it is the world's 13th largest island. Java is surrounded by the Java Sea to the north, Sunda Strait to the west, the Indian Ocean to the south and Bali Strait and Madura Strait in the east. Java is entirely of volcanic origin; the highest volcano in Java is Mount Semeru. The most active volcano in Java and in Indonesia is Mount Merapi. In total, Java boast more than 150 mountains. More mountains and highlands help to split the interior into a series of isolated regions suitable for wet-rice cultivation. Java was the first place where Indonesian coffee was grown, starting in 1699. Today, Coffea arabica is grown on the Ijen Plateau by larger plantations; the area of Java is 150,000 square kilometres. It is up to 210 km wide; the island's longest river is the 600 km long Solo River. The river rises from its source in central Java at the Lawu volcano flows north and eastward to its mouth in the Java Sea near the city of Surabaya.
Other major rivers are Brantas, Citarum and Serayu. The average temperature ranges from 22 °C to 29 °C; the northern coastal plains are hotter, averaging 34 °C during the day in the dry season. The south coast is cooler than the north, highland areas inland are cooler; the wet season ends in April. During that rain falls in the afternoons and intermittently during other parts of the year; the wettest months are February. West Java is wetter than East mountainous regions receive much higher rainfall; the Parahyangan highlands of West Java receive over 4,000 millimetres annually, while the north coast of East Java receives 900 millimetres annually. The natural environment of Jav
False gharial
The false gharial known as Malayan gharial, Sunda gharial, tomistoma, is a freshwater crocodilian native to Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo and Java. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, as the global population is estimated at fewer than 2,500 mature individuals; the specific name schlegelii honors the German herpetologist Hermann Schlegel. Unlike the gharial, the false gharial's snout broadens towards the base and so is more similar to those of true crocodiles than the gharial, whose osteology indicates a distinct lineage from all other living crocodilians. However, preliminary nuclear genetic sequences may indicate the gharial and false gharial had a shared ancestor at some point in prehistory. Other molecular studies have indicated that it is the nearest relative of the gharial. Along with close fossil relatives, such as Maroccosuchus, it is thus classed in the family Gavialidae; the false gharial is dark reddish-brown above with dark brown or black spots and cross-bands on the back and tail.
Ventrals are grayish-white, with some lateral dark mottling. Juveniles are mottled with black on the sides of the jaws and tail; the smooth and unornamented snout is long and slender, parallel sided, with a length of 3.0 to 3.5 times the width at the base. All teeth are long and needle-like, interlocking on the insides of the jaws, are individually socketed; the dorsal scales extend onto the sides of the body. The digits are webbed at the base. Integumentary sensory organs are present on the body scalation. Scales behind the head are a enlarged single pair; some individuals bear a number of adjoining small keeled scales. Scalation is divided medially by soft granular skin. Three transverse rows of two enlarged nuchal scales are continuous with the dorsal scales, which consist of 22 transverse rows of six to eight scales, are broad at midbody and extend onto the sides of the body. Nuchal and dorsal rows equals a total of 22 to 23 rows, it has 17 single-crested caudal whorls. The flanks have one or two longitudinal rows of six to eight enlarged scales on each side.
The false gharial has one of the slimmest snouts of any living crocodilian comparable to the slender-snouted crocodile and the freshwater crocodile in the extent of slenderness, only that of the gharial is noticeably more slim. The false gharial is a large crocodilian. Males can grow up to 5 m in length. Three mature males kept in captivity measured 3.6 to 3.9 m and weighed 190 to 210 kg, while a female measured 3.27 m and weighed 93 kg. Females have been recorded at lengths of up to 4 m; the false gharial has the largest skull of any extant crocodilian, undoubtedly aided by the great length of the slender snout. Out of the eight longest crocodilian skulls from existing species that could be found in museums around the world, six of these belonged to false gharials; the longest crocodilian skull belonging to an extant species was of this species and measured 84 cm in length, with a mandibular length of 104 cm. Most of the owners of these enormous skulls had no confirmed total measurements, but based on the known skull-to-total length ratio for the species, they would measure 5.5 to 6.1 m in length.
False gharials are native to Peninsular Malaysia and Indonesia, but were extirpated in Singapore and Thailand. It is unclear. Apart from rivers, they inhabit lakes; the species is entirely found today in peat swamps and lowland swamp forests. In the 1990s, information and sightings were available from 39 localities in 10 different river drainages, along with the remote river systems of Borneo. Prior to the 1950s, Tomistoma occurred in freshwater ecosystems along the entire length of Sumatra east of the Barisan Mountains; the current distribution in eastern Sumatra has been reduced by 30-40% due to hunting, logging and agriculture. Until very little was known about the diet or behaviour of the false gharial in the wild. Details are being revealed. In the past, the false gharial was thought to have a diet of only fish and small vertebrates, but more recent evidence and observation indicate that it has a generalist diet despite its narrow snout. In addition to fish and smaller aquatic animals, mature adults prey on larger vertebrates, including proboscis monkeys, long-tailed macaques, water birds, reptiles.
An eye-witness accounted of a false gharial attacking a cow in East Kalimantan. The false gharial may be considered an ecological equivalent to Neotropical crocodiles such as the Orinoco and American crocodiles, which both have slender snouts but a broad diet. False gharials are mound-nesters. Females lay small clutches of 13 to 35 eggs per nest, appear to produce the largest eggs of extant crocodilians. Sexual maturity in females appears to be attained around 2.5 to 3 m, large compared to other crocodilians. It is not known when the nesting season is. Once the eggs are laid, construction of the mound is completed, the female abandons her nest. Unlike most other crocodilians, the young receive no parental care and are at risk of being eaten by predators, such as mongooses, leopards and wild dogs; the young are left to fend for themselves. In 2008, a 4-m female false gharial ate a fisherman in central Kalimantan; this was the first verified fatal hum
Altenburg
Altenburg is a city in Thuringia, located 40 kilometres south of Leipzig, 90 kilometres west of Dresden and 100 kilometres east of Erfurt. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district and part of a polycentric old-industrial textile and metal production region between Gera and Chemnitz with more than 1 million inhabitants, while the city itself has a population of 33,000. Today, its rural county is part of the Central German Metropolitan Region. Altenburg was first mentioned in 976 and became one of the first German cities within former Slavic area, east of the Saale river; the emperor Frederick Barbarossa visited Altenburg several times between 1165 and 1188, hence the town is named a Barbarossa town today. Since the 17th century, Altenburg was the residence of different Ernestine duchies, of whom the Saxe-Altenburg persisted until the end of monarchy in Germany in 1918. Industrialization reached Altenburg and the region quite early in the first half of the 19th century and flourished until the Great Depression around 1930.
Economic malaise set in while Altenburg was in East Germany and continued after German reunification in 1990, evidenced by a decline in population, high unemployment and house vacancy rates. The main sights of Altenburg are the castle, the Lindenau-Museum, the historic city center and the Gründerzeit architecture around the center; the popular German card game Skat was developed in Altenburg during the 1810s and the founder of the famous Brockhaus Enzyklopädie, Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus and worked in Altenburg between 1810 and 1817. Altenburg lies in the flat and fertile landscape of Osterland on the Pleiße river in the east of Thuringia, next to the neighboring federal state of Saxony; the town was first mentioned in a deed to the Bishop of Zeitz in 976. Remains of a Slavic castle on the Schloßberg demonstrate that the town was a Slavic foundation, the capital of the shire of Plisni, taken over during the conquest of Meissen by Henry I; as shown by placenames, the surrounding area was settled by Slavs.
The town's location on the imperial road'Via Imperii' between Halle and Cheb in Bohemia gave Altenburg economic importance in the salt trade. The first castle, located under the present day church St. Bartholomäi, was destroyed after the Battle of Hohenmölsen between Henry IV and Rudolph of Swabia, it was rebuilt on the Schloßberg outside of the town. The 11th century Mantelturm tower is still preserved; the castle became an imperial palatinate and played an important part in the German takeover and settlement of the area between the Harz-mountains and the Elbe. In the middle of the 12th century, the Hohenstaufen emperors patronized Altenburg as one of their Kaiserpfalzes, allowing the town to become a market and a mint. Together with the Royal forests Leina, Pahna and Luckauer Forst, lands of the Groitzsch family bought by Frederick Barbarossa, Colditz and Chemnitz were turned into the Terra Plisnensis. Altenburg and Chemnitz as Imperial towns were intended to reduce the importance of Leipzig held by the Margrave of Meissen.
Under Frederick Barbarossa much building took place in the market area, the town grew rapidly. A priory of canons regular was founded and the parish church was finished in 1172; the twin towers of the 12th century Augustinian monastery are still preserved. A town wall with 5 gates was constructed at the end of the 12th century. Altenburg got its charter in 1256 the Wettins confirmed it again; the law structure was transposed from Goslar municipal law. During the Interregnum, the Terra Plisnensis was impounded, but bought back by Rudolph I of Germany, who desired the crown of Thuringia. Together with Zwickau and Chemnitz, Altenburg was part of the anti-Meissen Pleiße-city Union of 1290. After the Battle of Lucka in 1307 against Frederick the Brave of Meissen and his brother Diezmann, King Albert I lost Altenburg and the Pleiße-lands to the Wettin margraves of Meissen, who held the city until 1918. In 1455, Altenburg saw the division of the Meissen lands between Elector Frederick II and Duke William that led, after a failed attempt at reconciliation to a war between the two brothers.
In the second division of the Wettin lands between Ernest and Albert at Leipzig in 1485, Altenburg fell to Ernest, together with the Electorate, the Mutschener Pflege, Leisnig and the Vogtland. From this time on, Altenburg was connected with Thuringia and its dynasty, the Ernestine Wettins; the Reformation was introduced in Altenburg quite early, in 1522, by George Spalatin, Wenzeslaus Linck and Gabriel Zwilling. During the German Peasants' War of 1525, the Altenburg Augustinian monastery was attacked. In the summer, four peasant rebels were executed at the marketplace. After the Schmalkaldic War brought defeat for the Ernestines, Altenburg belonged to the Albertines for short time before coming back to the Ernestines after the Naumburg Treaty. From 1603 to 1672, Altenburg was the residence of an Ernestine line, after that, it fell to Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg; the Thirty Years' War brought heavy damage to more than half of the population died. During the Napoleonic wars it was a scene of a brief Allied raid by the Saxon General Johann von Thielmann.
When the Ernestine lands were re-divided in 1826, Altenburg became the capital of Saxe-Altenburg, successor state to the dissolved Saxe-Hildburghausen. Around 1830, the city walls and gates were knocked down and the old suburbia in front of the
Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie
The Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie was a museum on the Rapenburg in Leiden, the Netherlands. It was founded in 1820 by Royal Decree from a merger of several existing collections; this happened on the initiative of Coenraad Jacob Temminck, who saw the museum as a research institute for the University of Leiden. The total collection was quite large at the time, continued to grow from foreign expeditions and by obtaining private collections from inheritances; the location is used by the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden. The location was a hofje called Hof van Zessen. In 1815 plans were made to build a museum there, it opened in 1820, until 1913, the museum opened to the public on Sundays. In 1913, the museum moved to a new building, with little room available for exhibits, in 1950, this room was closed. After that, there were a few opportunities for guided tours, attending lectures, temporary exhibitions. In 1976, a paper, "Towards a New Museum", was produced; this led to the museum taking on more of a central curating role, lending pieces from its collection to other museums.
The Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie and the Rijksmuseum van Geologie en Mineralogie merged in 1984. A permanent public exhibition was still not present; that came in 1986, when the so-called "National Presentation" in the field of natural history was commissioned by the Dutch government. Planning began for a new building, completed in 1990 and launched in 1998 as "Naturalis". Coenraad Jacob Temminck 1820 - 1858 Hermann Schlegel 1858 - 1884 Fredericus Anna Jentink 1884 - 1913 Eduard Daniel van Oort 1913 - 1933 Hilbrand Boschma 1933 - 1958 Leo Brongersma 1958 - 1972 Willem Vervoort 1972 - 1982 Jacobus Theodorus Wiebes 1982 - 1989 T. de Caluwé 1989 - 1991 W. van der Weiden 1991 - 2003 Marinus Boeseman Heinrich Boie Johann Büttikofer Rudolf van Eecke Berend George Escher Matthijs Freudenthal Otto Finsch Agatha Gijzen Wilhem de Haan James Edmund Harting Koos den Hartog Jan Adrianus Herklots Lipke Holthuis Johan Coenraad van Hasselt George Junge Heinrich Kuhl Jacob van der Land Heinrich Christian Macklot Johannes Govertus de Man Karl Martin Gerlof Fokko Mees Salomon Müller Dirk Noordam Willem Roelofs Adolph Cornelis van Bruggen Jacobus van der Vecht Samuel Constantinus Snellen van Vollenhoven G. van der Zanden John Gerrard Keulemans Marinus Adrianus Koekkoek the Younger Joseph Smit Joseph Wolf Pieter Bleeker Eugène Dubois Curt Eisner Oliver Erichson Janson Franz Wilhelm Junghuhn Thure Kumlien Pierre Millière Hendrik Pel Walter Karl Johann Roepke Hermann von Rosenberg Gerard van Rossem Philipp Franz von Siebold Hermanus Gerardus Maria Teunissen François Le Vaillant Stephen Jay Gould depicts his visit to the Raamsteeg building in Dinosaur in a Haystack in his essay "Four Antelopes of the Apocalypse".
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