Maximilian, Prince of Wied (1782-1867): Reconsidered

On 3 November 1992 the British Society for the History of Natural Sciences convened at the Naturkundliches Museum in Vienna. Since the theme of the six-day convention was The Exploration and Opening Up of America as Mirrored by Natural History, it is appropriate that one of the papers presented should have been devoted to Maximilian, Prince of Wied, whose complementary expeditions to North and South America have so greatly enriched our knowledge ofIndian cultures that once flourished in Brazil and on the Great Plains. Yet, despite the fact that Maximilian was by far the best trained scientific observer to explore the West in the early period, 1 he remains relatively unknown in this country and is virtually forgotten in Europe. Indeed, a major reason for honoring him with seven conferences in Germany on the 125th anniversary of his death was to evoke recollections of the life and work of Prince Maximilian of Wied.