Ernst von Hesse Wartegg

Biography

Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg's origins are unknown. He had a daughter born out of wedlock who tried in vain to prove her family roots in the 1930s. In 2012 several research teams could not find more information, only in results published in 2017 it was demonstrated that Hesse-Wartegg was Austrian by birth, but adopted the US American citizenship in 1887. In 1878, he married the American opera singer Minnie Hauk (1851 - 1929). Starting 1889 they lived in their villa in Tribschen, near Lucerne, Switzerland.

Throughout his life he went on travels worldwide. In 1872 he went to South-Eastern Europe, 1876 was his first trip to the USA. Trips in the years 1880 to Tunis, 1881 to Egypt, and 1883 to Canada and Mexico followed, as well as several trips to the USA. His next important travels were 1887 to Venezuela, and 1892 to Morocco and Spain. In 1894 he went on a trip around the world with South and East Asia as major stops: India, Singapore, Hong-Kong, China, Japan and Corea. In 1898 he was back to China. A trip to the German colonies in the Pacific followed in 1900, and in 1901 he travelled to India and Ceylon. His last long trips were to Brazil in the years 1903, 1910 and 1913.

Mark Twain and Karl May, amongst others, borrowed from his geographical descrptions for their own works.

Works (Selection)

Die Werkzeugmaschinen zur Metall- und Holzbearbeitung. Leipzig 1874

Der unterseeische Tunnel zwischen England und Frankreich. Leipzig 1875

Atlantische Seebäder. Vienna 1878

Prairiefahrten. Leipzig 1878

Nord-Amerika, seine Städte und Naturwunder, sein Land und seine Leute, Leipzig 1880

Mississippifahrten. Leipzig 1881

Tunis, Land und Leute. Vienna 1882; Wuppertal 2007 ISBN 978-3-8370-0729-9

Canada und Neufundland. Freiburg im Breisgau 1888

Mexiko, Land und Leute. Wien 1890

Tausend und ein Tag im Occident. 3 Bde. Dresden 1896

Die Einheitszeit nach Studenzonen. Dresden 1892

Chicago, eine Großstadt im amerikanischen Westen. Stuttgart 1892

Curiosa aus der Neuen Welt. Leipzig 1893

Andalusien. Leipzig 1894

Korea. Dresden 1895

China und Japan. Leipzig 1897

Schan-tung und Deutsch-China. Leipzig 1897

Siam, das Reich des weißen Elefanten. Leipzig 1899

Samoa, Bismarckarchipel und Neuguinea. Leipzig: J. J. Weber. 1902. 

Indien und seine Fürstenhöfe. Leipzig 1906

Die Wunder der Welt. 1912

Zwischen Anden und Amazonas. Stuttgart 1915

Die Balkanstaaten und ihre Völker. Regensburg 1917

Works in English (Selection)

The caravan route between Egypt and Syria. By Ludwig Salvator, translated by Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg. 1881.

Tunis. The Land and the People. London, New York 1882

The New South-West. Travelling Sketches from Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona and Northern Mexico. London. 1883.

Across Nebraska by Train in 1877. Translated by Frederic Trautmann. 1984

Travels on the Lower Mississippi 1879-1880. Translated by Frederic Trautmann. Columbia. 1990