HUMBOLDT,W∣LHELM VON b.June 22, 1767; Potsdam, Prussia d.April 8, 1835; Schloss Tegel, Prussia
Prussian diplomat and linguist, the elder brother of Alexander von Humboldt, who conducted research on the pre-Columbian languages of the American continent. His father, Alexander Georg von Humboldt, was an officer and chamberlain for the Prussian king.
His mother was Maria Elizabeth von Colomb, the widow of the Baron von Holwede. Neither of the brothers had the right to carry the title of a baron. The family belonged only to the lower ranks of Prussian aristocracy, but was wealthy and socially upward orientated. The mother came from a Huguenot Scottish merchant family. The Humboldt brothers grew up in Berlin and spent the summers at the family estate, Schloss Tegel. After the father died, his part in raising the brothers fell on their estate manager, Gottlob Christian Kunth. They were tutored by Kunth and leading scientists residing in Berlin.In 1787 both brothers started their studies at the University of Frankfurt an der Oder, and Wilhelm continued at the University of Gottingen the next year. This was typical training for civil servants at the time, though Humboldt entered and left the diplomatic service in 1791 without a posting abroad, after having received the title of Legationsrat (legation counselor, a high-ranking diplomat). Between 1797 and 1801, Humboldt traveled to France and Spain to research the Basque language. From 1802 to 1808, he served as Prussian envoy to Rome. In 1809 he accepted an appointment to be director of the Department of Religion and Public Education in the Ministry of Interior Affairs in Berlin. During his tenure, Humboldt reformed Prussian primary and secondary education, guided by his liberal and humanist ideas. His greatest triumph was the founding of the Frederick Wilhelm University in Berlin. Professors at this university had Lehrfreiheit, the freedom to teach subjects of their choice, the students had Lernfrei- heit, the right to build their own curriculum of courses offered.
Between 1810 and 1819, Humboldt had a number of diplomatic missions to Vienna, Paris, Frankfurt am Main, and London, before he resigned from state service. He continued to exchange ideas with influential Prussian politicians and he developed an interest in the future political development of the American continent. In a memorandum that predates the Monroe Doctrine, Humboldt raised the issue of trade with the new states in South and Central America. He recommended improving Prussian Spanish relations and limiting relations with the former Spanish colonies to maritime trade.
Humboldt engaged in a variety of academic projects. He produced pioneer studies of the Basque and Kawi languages. He was very interested in the philosophy of language. His studies provided the basis for twentieth-century linguists such as Noam Chomsky. Already in 1812 he had written an essay on the languages of the New World. Together with a few other documents this was published in his Gesammelte Schrften (Collected Writings). Because of its long isolation, North and South America and their civilizations fascinated Humboldt. He followed his brother’s expeditions and explorations very closely. A system of written language represented, in Humboldt’s mind, a once-developed civilization. However, Humboldt was skeptical that any more Mayan hieroglyphs could be found. The Inca quipo, in which symbols and numbers were woven into cloth for record keeping, was also mentioned as a possible trace of civilization. But whether it was a calculator, some sort of writing, or just a type of rosary remained unclear to him.
Tommy Tobiassen
See also Adelung, Johann Christoph; Humboldt, Alexander von; Vater, Johann Severin
References and Further Reading
Humboldt, Wilhelm von. Gesammelte
Schriften. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1968.
Steinberg, Heinz. Wilhelm von Humboldt. Berlin: Stapp, 2001.
Sweet, Paul Robinson. Wilhelm von Humboldt: A Biography. Columbus: Ohio State University, 1978.