At age 30, Natterer , along with Spix & Martius, was among the entourage which accompanied the Archduchess Leopoldina to Brazil in 1817 as a zoologist. Explored near Rio de Janeiro with Johann Emanuel Pohl. 1818-19 travelled the river route to the Paraná/Paraguay. 1822-23 travelled cross-country from São Paulo to Goiás and Cuiabá, where he spent nearly a year. 1826-28 travelled on the Paraguay and Guaporé where he suffered a severe malarial attack. 1829 travelled down the Guaporé and Madeira from Cuiabá. 1830-32 travelled up the Negro to the Uaupés, Içana, upper Negro and Casiquiare. Natterer married a Brazilian at Barcelos and had a daughter by her, but Alfred Russel Wallace met a beautiful indian mestiza woman at Guia on the Içana and was assured by the locals that she was Natterer's illegitimate daughter by a Baniwa woman. 1831 travelled the Branco and Mucajaí, returning to Manaus 1834; descended Amazon to Belém, thence back to Vienna 1835.
Retained a gigantic collection of natural history specimens, including many indian artefacts deposited in the Museum für Völkerkunde in Vienna. Natterer worked at the Imperial Museum of Natural History and died of a lung ailment in 1843 at age 55. Wrote no popular account of his travels, and his notebooks and diary were destroyed by fire in 1848.
Last modified:
April 11, 1997
Scott A. Schaefer schaefer@amnh.org