Emil Holub, Emilian Karel Jan Holub (7 October 1847 – 21 February 1902) was a Czech physician, traveller, cartographer and ethnographer.
In his childhood he read David Livingstone's African travelogue, which strongly influenced him. He wanted to study natural sciences and archaeology, but at his father's request he studied medicine. During his two stays in South Africa he made several scientific expeditions and acquired an extensive natural history and ethnographic collection.
In 1872 he made his first trip to South Africa. There he initially worked as a doctor in European families. By 1879 he had made three expeditions to the territory of the native tribes, to the Kalahari Desert, the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers, and made the first detailed map of the Victoria Falls area. He assembled a natural history collection that enriched the collections of the Naprstek Museum in Prague, although some of the material was destroyed in an accident on the Zambezi River.
His second trip to Africa took place between 1883 and 1887, when he travelled to what is now Botswana and Zambia. The expedition was marred by a series of adverse events, ranging from the loss of draught animals to attacks by wild animals, an attack by a native tribe, disease, and the destruction of collection materials. Of his entourage of six, only two members survived. Holub himself and his wife became seriously ill, and had to end the expedition.
Holub planned a third expedition to Africa in 1889. This time he was to head for the Belgian Congo. His health no longer allowed him to do so. After returning from both journeys, he gave lectures and exhibitions and wrote and published travelogues. In 1894 he went to the USA for two years to lecture. After returning from the USA, Holub lived mostly in Vienna. His early death came on 21 February 1902, from lingering complications of malaria and other diseases he had acquired while in Africa.
In spite of all the difficulties, Holub managed to collect a lot of natural and ethnographic material and knowledge, which was appreciated in scientific circles in the Czech lands, Germany, France and England. However, he was unable to obtain space for the permanent housing of his collections (about 13,000 objects) and began to sell them off in parts abroad or even donate them to museums, scientific institutions and schools. Most of his collections are housed in the Dr. Emil Holub African Museum in his native Holice in Czechia.
Source: Wikipedia
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