Pfeiffer, Ida

The daughter of a wealthy merchant named Reyer. As a child, she preferred men's clothing and loved sports, to which her father was addicted. Ida was educated, which at that time was given to the boys.

She made her first big journey to Palestine and Egypt when she was only five years old. Impressions from this experience remained with her for life. After the death of her father, when she was 9 years old, her mother, who was negative about her daughter’s non-feminine lifestyle, persuaded Ida to wear women's clothing and learn to play the piano.

On May 1, 1820, she married Dr. Mark Anton Pfeiffer, a lawyer from Lemberg who was associated with the Austrian authorities. Her husband was 24 years older than her and was a widower, who already had an adult son. In 1831, the mother of Ida dies, and in 1838 her husband dies.

After her sons began to live separately, Ida was finally able to fulfill her childhood dreams of traveling to foreign countries. She later writes the following lines in her book Journey to Iceland :

When I was just a small child, I already had a strong desire to see the world. Whenever I met a wagon, I unconsciously stopped and peered at them until they were out of sight; I was jealous of the postman because I thought he must have just returned from some big trip.

In 1842, she traveled along the Danube to the Black Sea , to Istanbul . From there, she continued on her way to Palestine and Egypt, after which she returned home through Italy . She published a report on her journey in the book Reise einer Wienerin in das Heilige Land ( Woman's Journey from Vienna to the Holy Land ); the money she received for this publication allowed her to fund her other travels in the future.

In 1845, she went to Scandinavia and Iceland , describing her journey in the two-volume Reise nach dem skandinavischen Norden und der Insel Island ( Journey to the Scandinavian North and the island of Iceland ).

First World Travel

In 1846, she went on a world tour, visiting Brazil , Chile , other countries of South America , Tahiti , China , India , Persia , Asia Minor and Greece , returning home by 1848. As a result of the trip, she published the book Eine Frau fährt um die Welt ( A Woman Rides Around the World ).

First World Travel

In 1851, she went to England , and from there to South Africa , hoping to penetrate deep into the continent; her hopes for a journey deep into Africa did not materialize, instead she continued her journey to the Malay archipelago , having spent 18 months on the Sunda Islands , where she visited the Dayaks in Borneo and was the first to describe the life of the Bataks in Sumatra and the Moluccas .

After visiting Australia, Ida went to California , Oregon , Peru , Ecuador , New Granada and then again north to the Great Lakes , returning home only in 1854. Her story, Meine zweite Weltreise ( My Second Travel Around the World ), was published in Vienna in 1856 and in London in 1857.

Madagascar

In May 1857, Ida went to explore Madagascar , where she was cordially received by Queen Ranavaluna I. She was involuntarily involved in a conspiracy against the government, along with Jean Labor and Joseph-Francois Lambert , as well as Crown Prince Rakoto (future King of Radam II ). When the plot was discovered, the queen executed the Malagasy who participated in it, but spared the Europeans by expelling them from the country in July 1857. Pfeiffer caught a tropical disease (most likely malaria ) during her transition from the capital Antananarivo to the coastal port, from where she sailed, and never recovered from it.

She died in Vienna a year later, in 1858, most likely from complications from malaria. The diary of her last trip, Reise nach Madagaskar ( Trip to Madagascar ), was published in Vienna in 1861 and included her biography written by her son, Oscar Pfeiffer.

During her travels, Ida collected collections of plants, insects, mollusks, marine life, and minerals. Thoroughly documented collections were sold to the Vienna Museum of Natural History in Vienna and the Berlin Museum of Natural History .

Ida Pfeiffer appears on the pages of Henry David Thoreau Walden's book , or Life in the Forest . Thoreau talks about how she wore more and more civilized clothes as she approached the house.

• Works by Ida Laura Pfeiffer (The Works of Ida Laura Pfeiffer) at The Sophie Project
• Works by Ida Pfeiffer at Project Gutenberg
• The Story of Ida Pfeiffer, and Her Travels in Many Lands , (The story of Ida Pfeiffer and her travels to different Earths, Biography).
• Works by or about Ida Laura Pfeiffer at Internet Archive
• Works by Ida Laura Pfeiffer at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• 2 short radio episodes American Steamers and A Bear in the Streets from A Lady's Second Journey Round the World , 1855. California Legacy Project .

• “Reise einer Wienerin in das Heilige Land” (Vienna, 1848);
• “Reise nach dem Skandinavischen Norden und der Insel Island” (Pest, 1816);
• “Eine Frauenfahrt um die Welt” (Vienna, 1850);
• “Meine zweite Weltreise” (ib., 1856);
• "Reise nach Madagaskar" (ed. By her son, with a biography of P., Vienna, 1861).

• “A woman’s journey around the world” (Moscow, 1862–1867);
• "A journey through India and Persia to the country of stranglers and fire-worshipers with a description of all the wonderful monuments and ancient ruins" (Moscow, 1879).

• Pfeiffer, Ida // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.