José Alberto de Oliveira Anchieta facts for kids

José Alberto de Oliveira Anchieta was a brave Portuguese explorer and naturalist. He lived in the 1800s. He was born in Lisbon, Portugal, on October 9, 1832. He passed away in Caconda, Angola, on September 14, 1897.

Between 1866 and 1897, Anchieta traveled a lot in Portuguese Angola, Africa. He collected many different animals and plants. He sent these samples from Angola and Mozambique to Portugal. There, scientists like J.V. Barboza du Bocage studied them. These scientists were zoologists (animal experts) and botanists (plant experts).

An Explorer's Life Story

Anchieta was born in Lisbon in 1832. He began studying mathematics at the University of Coimbra. But he was very independent and had his own way of doing things. So, he moved to the Polytechnic School of Lisbon.

In 1857, one of his good friends moved to Portuguese Cape Verde. This was a Portuguese colony made of islands in the Atlantic Ocean, off West Africa. Anchieta decided to join him. He spent his time studying the local plants and animals on the island of Santo Antão. He even helped the local people as an amateur doctor because he had studied some medicine.

A serious illness called cholera spread, and many people died. Anchieta almost died too. After two years, he was able to return to Portugal. He felt that helping people was his calling. So, he studied medicine in Lisbon, London, and Paris. But he did not finish his studies.

Adventures in Angola

Anchieta returned to Africa, this time to Angola. Angola was one of the largest Portuguese colonies in West Africa. He became very successful as an explorer of the inland areas and as a naturalist. He studied and collected many new animal and plant species.

After some time, he returned to Portugal. Sadly, many of his collections were lost when his canoe sank in a river. But he gave what was left to the natural history museum.

In 1865, Anchieta traveled back to Angola on his own. This time, his wife went with him. He stayed in the Benguela region. He set up a laboratory inside the ruins of an old church. There, he explored and collected animals.

In 1867, the Portuguese government hired him as a naturalist. It is also thought that Anchieta was hired as a secret agent. He would gather information in the Caconda region of Angola. This was a very far-off part of the territory. He stayed there, doing research and exploring. He sent many specimens and letters to his scientist friends in Lisbon. He also helped people at the local hospital. The people there really liked him because he was caring and kind.

Later Years and Discoveries

Not much is known about this part of Anchieta's life. Many of the museum samples and his letters were lost in a big fire at the museum in 1978.

Anchieta died in 1897, at 66 years old. He was returning from an animal expedition to Caconda. He likely died from the long-term effects of malaria. He and his wife had caught malaria, and it had made him very sick for many years.

According to Bocage, Anchieta found many new animal species. He identified 25 new kinds of mammals, 46 birds, and 46 amphibians and reptiles. Anchieta did not write many scientific papers himself. He left that work to his friends in Lisbon.

Species Named After Anchieta

Many species of birds, amphibians, lizards, snakes, fishes, and mammals that he collected were new to science. Because of his important work, many of these new species were named anchietae after him. Some examples include:

• Anchieta's sunbird (Anthreptes anchietae), a bird
• Anchieta's barbet (Stactolaema anchietae), a bird
• Anchieta's tchagra (Tchagra anchietae), a bird
• Anchieta's ridged frog (Ptychadena anchietae)
• Anchieta's dune lizard (Meroles anchietae)
• Anchieta's frog (Hylambates anchietae)
• Anchieta's tree frog (Leptopelis anchietae)
• Anchieta's chameleon (Chamaeleo anchietae), a lizard
• Anchieta's cobra (Naja anchietae), a venomous snake
• Anchieta's dwarf python (Python anchietae), a non-venomous snake
• Anchieta's pipistrelle (Pipistrellus anchietai), a bat
• Anchieta's elephantfish (Mormyrus anchietae)
• Anchieta's antelope (Cephalophus anchietae)
• Anchieta's serpentiform skink (Eumecia anchietae), a lizard
• Anchieta's spade-snouted worm lizard (Monopeltis anchietae), an amphsbaenian
• Anchieta's agama (Agama anchietae), a lizard

Images for kids

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  Laboratory of Anchieta in Caconda, around 1870

See also

In Spanish: José Alberto de Oliveira Anchieta para niños