German geographer

Along with his countryman and mentor Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), Carl Ritter is recognized as one of the two founders of modern geography.

Ritter was born the son of a physician on August 7, 1779, in Quedlinburg, Germany. After his father's premature death in 1784, his mother enrolled him at the age of five in Schnepfenthal, the experimental school of Christian Gotthilf Salzmann (1744–1811), where he acquired an amazing breadth of basic education. Based on the humanistic pedagogical theories of Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), Salzmann's system emphasized empirical science, practical living, natural law, history, philosophy, theology, art, and modern languages, but not classical languages. His geography teacher was Johann Christoph Friedrich Guts Muths (1759–1839), who also taught history and French. Upon completing this curriculum, Ritter was hired as private tutor for the children of Bethmann Hollweg, a wealthy banker in Frankfurt. From 1798 to 1814, he worked for Hollweg, who financed...