ANTON

FRIEDRICH

See also:

• ANTON FRIEDRICH BUSCHING (1724-1793)

BUSCHING (1724-1793)  , German theologian and geographer, was born at Stadthagen in Schaumburg-Lippe, on the 27th of September 1724 . In 1748 he was appointed tutor in the family of the count de Lynars, who was then going as ambassador to St Petersburg . On this journey he resolved to devote his life to the improvement of geographical science . Leaving the count's family, he went to reside at Copenhagen, and devoted himself entirely to this new pursuit . In 1752 he published his Description of the Counties of Schleswig and Holstein . In 1754 he removed to Gottingen, where in 1757 he was appointed professor of philosophy; but in 1761 he accepted an invitation to the German congregation at St Peters-burg . There he organized a school which, under him, soon became one of the most flourishing in the north of Europe, but a disagreement with Marshal Munich led him, in spite of the empress's offers of high advancement, to return to central Europe in 1765 . He first went to live at Altona; but next year he was called to superintend the famous " Greyfriars Gymnasium " (Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster), which had been formed at Berlin by Frederick the Great . He died of dropsy on the 28th of May 1793, having by writing and example given a new impulse to education throughout Prussia . While at Gottingen he married the poetess, Christiana Dilthey . Busching's works (on geography, history, education and religion) amount to more than a hundred . The first class comprehends those upon which his fame chiefly rests; for although he did not possess the genius of D'Anville, he may be regarded as the creator of modern Statistical Geography .

His magnum

opus is the Erdebeschreibung, in seven parts, of which the first four, comprehending Europe, were published in 1754-1761, and have been translated into several languages (e.g. into English with a preface by Murdoch, in six volumes, London, 1762) . In 1763 the fifth part was published, being the first volume upon Asia, containing Asiatic Turkey and Arabia . It displays an immense extent of research, and is generally considered as his masterpiece . Busching was also the editor of a valuable collection entitled Magazin fur d. neue Historie and Geographie (23 vols . 4to, 1767—1793); also of Wochentl . Nachrichten von neuen Landkarten (Berlin, 1773—1787) . His works on education enjoyed great repute . In biography he wrote a number of articles for the above-mentioned Magazin, and a valuable collection of Beitrage zur Lebensgeschichte merkwurdiger Personen (6 vols., 1783—1789), including an elaborate life of Frederick the Great .