Gustav Adolf Fischer was a German Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

n explorer.

Biography

He was born at Barmen

Barmen

Barmen is a former industrial metropolis of the region of Bergisches Land, Germany, which in 1929 with four other towns was merged with the city of Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. Barmen was the birth-place of Friedrich Engels and together with the neighbouring town of Elberfeld founded the...

. In 1876 he accompanied the Denhardt East Africa exploring expedition

Clemens Denhardt

Clemens Andreas Denhardt and his brother Gustav Denhardt , born in Zeitz, Saxony-Anhalt, were distinguished German explorers of Africa at the time of the Scramble for Africa. In association with the physician G. A. Fischer they undertook in 1878 a tour through the Tana River region, East Africa,...

 to Zanzibar

Zanzibar

Zanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...

, where he settled as a physician

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

, and in the following year explored Wituland

Wituland

Wituland was an approximately territory in East Africa centered on the town of Witu just inland from Indian Ocean port of Lamu north of the mouth of the Tana River in what is now Kenya.-History:Founded in 1858 by the former ruler of the insular Pate sultanate after several abortive moves to the...

 and the southern Oromo

Oromo people

The Oromo are an ethnic group found in Ethiopia, northern Kenya, .and parts of Somalia. With 30 million members, they constitute the single largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and approximately 34.49% of the population according to the 2007 census...

 country. In 1878 he continued his journey to Wapokomoland and along the Tana River

Tana River (Kenya)

The long Tana River is the longest river in Kenya, and gives its name to the Tana River District. Its tributaries include the Thika. The river rises in the Aberdare Mountains to the west of Nyeri. Initially it runs east before turning south around the massif of Mount Kenya. The river then runs...

 to Massa. With the support of the Geographical Society of Hamburg he visited the Maasai country in 1882 and penetrated from the mouth of the Pagani River to Lake Naivasha

Lake Naivasha

Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake in Kenya, lying north west of Nairobi, outside the town of Naivasha. It is part of the Great Rift Valley. The name derives from the local Maasai name Nai'posha, meaning "rough water" because of the sudden storms which can arise...

. The Maasai prevented him from advancing further. Equipped with funds by the brother of Junker

Wilhelm Junker

Wilhelm Junker was a Russian explorer of Africa. He was of German descent.He was born in Moscow. He studied medicine at Dorpat, Göttingen, Berlin and Prague, but did not practise for long...

, an explorer, who with Emin Pasha

Emin Pasha

Mehmed Emin Pasha — he was born Isaak Eduard Schnitzer and baptized Eduard Carl Oscar Theodor Schnitzer — was a physician, naturalist, and governor of the Egyptian province of Equatoria on the upper Nile...

 and Gaetano Casati

Gaetano Casati

Gaetano Casati was an Italian and an explorer of Africa, born in Lesmo in upper Italy. After studying at the Academy in Pavia he entered the Italian army in 1859 and served there until 1879. On December 24, 1879, he sailed for Africa under commission of the Società d'Esplorazione Commerciale...

 had been lost in the equatorial province

Equatoria

Equatoria is a region in the south of present-day South Sudan along the upper reaches of the White Nile. Originally a province of Egypt, it also contained most of Northern part of present day Uganda including Albert Lake...

s, he organized a relief expedition which, however, was compelled to return after reaching Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. The lake was named for Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, by John Hanning Speke, the first European to discover this lake....

. Shortly after his return to Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 in 1886 he died of a bilious fever contracted during his journey. He is commemorated in the names of a number of animals, including Fischer's Lovebird

Fischer's Lovebird

The Fischer's Lovebird is a small parrot species of the Agapornis genus. They were originally discovered in the late 19th century, and were first bred in the United States in 1926. They are named after German explorer Gustav Fischer.- Description :The Fischer's Lovebird has a green back, chest,...

, Agapornis fischeri.

Literary works

• Mehr Licht im dunkeln Weltteil (1885)
• Das Masai-Land (1885)

He also wrote articles for Zeitschrift für Ethnologie and for the Verhandlungen of the Hamburg Geographical Society.