Thaddaeus Haenke (Sentanka)

Thaddaeus Haenke A man of thousand talents Scientist and musician His heart belonged to the Indios His grave will never be found ----------------------------------------- Thaddaeus Haenke Ein Mann mit tausend Talenten Wissenschaftler und Musiker Sein Herz schlug für die Indios Sein Grab wird man nie finden ---------------------------------------- Tadeo Henke Un hombre de miles talentos Científico y músico Tenía un gran corazón para los indios Su tumba nunca lo encontrarán Note: Thaddaeus Xaverius Peregrinus Haenke, also Tadeo Haenke, (*1761 in Kreibitz (Chribská), Bohemia, † 1816 in Cochabamba, Bolivia) was a German geographer, chemist, botanist and a studied philosopher, scientist, musician and explorer. He studies medicine, chemistry astronomy and botany in Prague and vienna. He missed the ship of the Spanish expedition lead by Alessandro Malaspina di Mulazzo. Unluckily the ship he then took sank in the delta of the River Plate but he survived and crossed the Andes on foot. He arrived in Santiago de Chile on April 2nd, 1790 and met the expedition there. He collected thousands of plants, insects and prepared animals which he sent to Madird. He studied local languages and took notes and made studies on ethnology and ethnolinguistics. He observed volcanoes anf thermal springs, silver mines in Potosí and rivers in Ecuador. He was the first European to climb the Chimborazo and other peaks of the Andes. Then he settled in Cochabamba, Bolivia and married Sebastiana Orozco, a mestiza-girl. He made scienticic studies for Spanish ministries and improved the extraction of copper and glass-production in Cochabamba and introduced a smallpox-vaccination, the first in Southamerica. He also opened Southamerica's first pharmacy for which he produced his own products. He is until today highly esteemed by the Indios. He developed explosives from salpeter found in the Atacama Desert of which the Spanish army profited. He discovered Victoria regia and Puya raimondii in Perú. During the revolutionary chaos he died under myterious circumstances on November 14th 1816 at the age of 54 in his house in Cochabamba. Poisoning as cause of his death could be possible. His personal belongings were confiscated by the Spanish government. Indios buried him at an unknown place in the Atacama Desert. Some of his descendants are still living in Southamerica. His scriptures and objects of studies are widely spread at European universities and collections.