Sir Robert Hermann Schomburgk (1804 1865) was a German-born surveyor and traveller. In 1835 1839 he explored British Guiana for the Royal Geographical Society. In 1840 he was appointed to define its boundaries with Brazil, as Brazilian encroachments were wiping out native tribes. His report to the Colonial Office was published as A Description of British Guiana, Geographical and Statistical in 1840, and was the first detailed account of the colony. As well as surveying the land, and being the first European to reach the source of the Essequibo River, he discovered many new species of plants....

Sir Robert Hermann Schomburgk (1804 1865) was a German-born surveyor and traveller. In 1835 1839 he explored British Guiana for the Royal Geographical Society, and in 1840 he was appointed to define its boundaries with Brazil. Knighted for his work, he then visited Barbados for the Barbados General Railway Company, publishing The History of Barbados in 1848. This substantial work contains - unsurprisingly given his background - a great deal more than a chronological narrative of the settlement and history of the island. He begins with a geographical analysis, statistical information, and an...