ALEXANDER

See also:

• KEITH
• KEITH, FRANCIS EDWARD JAMES (1696-1758)
• KEITH, GEORGE (c. 1639-1716)
• KEITH, GEORGE KEITH ELPHINSTONE, VISCOUNT (1746-1823)

KEITH

See also:

• JOHNSTON, ALBERT SIDNEY (1803–1862)
• JOHNSTON, ALEXANDER (1849-1888)
• ALEXANDER KEITH JOHNSTON (1804-1871)
• JOHNSTON, ARTHUR (1587-1641)
• JOHNSTON, J
• JOHNSTON, JOSEPH EGGLESTON (1807-1891)
• JOHNSTON, SIR HENRY HAMILTON (1858- )

JOHNSTON (1804-1871)  , Scottish geographer, was born at Kirkhill near Edinburgh on the 28th of December 1804 . After an education at the high school and the university of Edinburgh he was apprenticed to an engraver; and in 1826 joined his brother (afterwards Sir William Johnston, lord provost of Edinburgh) in a printing and engraving business, the well-known cartographical firm of W. and A . K . Johnston . His interest in geography had early developed, and his first important work was the National Atlas of general geography, which gained for him in 1843 the appointment of Geographer-Royal for Scotland . Johnston was the first to bring the study of physical geography into competent notice in England . His attention had been called to the subject by Humboldt; and after years of labour he published his magnificent Physical Atlas in 1848, followed by a second and enlarged edition in 1856 . This, by means of maps with descriptive letterpress, illustrates the geology, hydrography, meteorology, botany, zoology, and ethnology of the globe . The rest of Johnston's life was devoted to geography, his later years to its educational aspects especially . His services were recognized by the leading scientific societies of Europe and America . He died at Ben Rhydding, Yorkshire, on the 9th of July 1871 . Johnston published a Dictionary of Geography in 185o, with many later editions; The Royal Atlas of Modern Geography, begun in 1855; an atlas of military geography to accompany Alison's History of Europe in 1848 seq.; and a variety of other atlases and maps for educational or scientific purposes .

His son of the same name (1844-1879) was also theauthor of various

geographical works and papers; in 1873-1875 he was geographer to a commission for the survey of Paraguay; and he died in Africa while leading the Royal Geographical Society's expedition to Lake Nyasa .