iFACTS | Adam Afzelius

Date of Birth	7 October 1750.
Place of Birth	Larvs rectory, Västergötland, Sweden.
Date of Death	30 January 1837.
Place of Death	Uppsala, Sweden.
Monuments Medals Etc.	Unknown.
Variations of Name's Spelling	Not found.
Preserved signature	In correspondence.
Portrait	Portrait of Adam Afzelius, miniature by L. H. Roos af Hjelmsäter 1813. [Source; Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden]. Oil on canvas 1802, K. F. Breda, Västgöta student society, Uppsala. Portrait of Adam Afzelius, lithograph ca 1800 [Source: Åbo Academy Image Collection, Finland].
Childhood, Adolescence & Education	Father, vicar and dean Arvid Persson Afzelius. Mother, Katarina Brisman. Studies, Skara gymnasium. Student, Uppsala University, he signed in 21 September 1768. He defended a thesis 12 July 1775, Bachelor of philosophy 16 December 1775 and 13 June 1776 together with Master of philosophy 14 June 1776.
Professional Life	Uppsala University. 1. Senior lecturer in Oriental languages, 12 November 1777. 2. Library amanuensis 14 May 1778. 3. Assistant master in philosophy 1 November 1780. 4. Assistant master in medicine and botanices demonstrator, 3 March 1785. 5. Honorary doctor in medicine 1797. 6. Professor in botany 1803-1805. 7. Professor in materia medica and dietetics 4 November 1812. 8. Fil. jubelmagister (person who has held a fil. mag. [Bachelor of philosophy] for 50 years) 1827. Fellow of The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm 1793 and fellow of several foreign learned societies.
Journeys & Voyages	London 1789, he lived and worked here up to his journey 1792. Scientific expedition; London to Sierra Leone, 1792- 1793, he returned to London to cure ill health. Second scientific expedition; London to Sierra Leone, 1794-1796. (Most of his collections and the diary were ruined during a French attack against the English colony in Sierra Leone, September 1794. Afzelius therefore restarted a new journey 1795 and the plant collecting was resumed). Both journeys to Sierra Leone were financed through Afzelius’ employment as a botanist for the Sierra-Leone Company. After the return from Sierra Leone, he stayed in London 1796-1799 and was employed as a secretary at the Swedish Embassy in London from 24 March 1797. He returned to Sweden 1799, via Christiansand and Christiania [Oslo] in Norway.
Travel Diaries & Other Publications in Connection with the Journeys & Voyages	Sierra Leone Journals 1795-96. (First published 1967, ed. Peter Kup). Passage from Sierra Leone to London in the Company’s Brig the Eliza Capt. Smyth in the year 1796. (First published in The Linnaeus Apostles - Global Science & Adventure Vol. 4, 2009). Passage from London to Christiania in the Norwegian Ship Fortuna, Cap. Thom. Dorand in the year 1799. (First published in The Linnaeus Apostles - Global Science & Adventure Vol. 4, 2009).
Civil Status & Family	Married, Anna Sofia Dassau, 18 October 1801.
Preserved Collections & Manuscripts	Large collection of herbarium specimens, collected in Sierra Leone 1792-1796. Uppsala Herbaria. Smaller collection of herbarium specimens from Sierra Leone, foremost; Natural History Museum in London, Kew Herbarium, New York Botanical Garden, Missouri Botanical Garden, Bergius Foundation and The Swedish Museum of Natural History both in Stockholm. Collection of zoological specimens from Sierra Leone, The Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm. Plates showing plants collected by Afzelius during his Sierra Leone expeditions. Uppsala University, Institution for Systematic Botany. Coloured copperplate of an African night jar, by Adam Afzelius 1796. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. Ethnographical items from Sierra Leone. The Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm. Adam Afzelius’ travel journals and a large number of letters. Uppsala University Library. Letters from Afzelius to several persons, British Library, London. “The botanical history of Trifolium...” manuscript by Adam Afzelius. The Linnean Society of London.
Extra Notes	He applied at the age of 78 for the “Linnaeus chair of botany”, but did not receive the position. Afzelius died 1837, as the last of the Linnaeus apostles. The plant genus Afzelia was named by J. E. Smith - the buyer of Linnaeus’ collections and founder of The Linnean Society of London - after Adam Afzelius. The genus contains trees of the leguminous family Caesalpiniaceae. Adam Afzelius collected industriously minerals during his lifetime.
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Botany
(1023)

Earth Sciences
(115)

Zoology
(980)

Agriculture
(712)

Anthropology
(1784)

Collections
(612)

Geography
(765)

Persons
(1004)

ADDED KNOWLEDGE
(1)

iProject
(5)

Bridge Builder Expedition
(0)

ADDED KNOWLEDGE

Geography

SWEDISH PASSPORT

– Adam Afzelius’ Journey towards England in 1789

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In iFACTS biographical facts of each individual Linnaeus Apostle are described, a total of seventeen men who made long voyages from the years 1746 to 1799, more than 50 years of travel in the service of science!

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