The Humboldt Map

In June 1799,  Alexander von Humboldt  and the botanist  Aimé Bonpland  left La Coruna, Spain, bound for New Spain in the Americas. Laden with scientific instruments and in possession of a letter from the King of Spain granting passage, they were the first northern Europeans to explore, record and map, the geography, geology, biota and people of South America and Mexico.

Reports of their travels captured the public imagination, and, on their return in August 1804, Humboldt, began a series of public lectures as well as publishing books on his travels with Bonpland. He was lauded by contemporaries as 'the most famous person in the world'. In 1829, he undertook a second, less successful, journey across Russia.

Since his travels to the Americas, statues and other monuments have been erected, and natural features, places, roads, and other infrastructure named, in his honour, remembering Alexander as explorer, scientist, educator and humanitarian. The 'Humboldt Map' includes over 1600 locations around the globe that commemorate Alexander von Humboldt.

Locations are most common in the countries he visited during his voyage to the Americas, as well Germany, his modern homeland. A scattering of locations occur across the globe in remote areas, but despite traveling across Russia later in his life, only one location is named after him in Asia.

The thirty-nine natural features of various kinds are scattered across the globe, with many in remote and isolated locations.

Given his love of mountains, it is perhaps not surprising that eighteen peaks and three mountain ranges are named after von Humboldt. At 5020m, the Pik Alexander von Humboldt in Kyrgyzstan, is the highest mountain to bear his name. The second highest is the 4940 m Pico Humboldt in the Sierra Nevada de Merida, Venezuela, which is the second highest mountain in the country. Pico Humboldt is located to Venezuela's first and third highest mountains that named after his friends,  Aimé Bonpland  and  Simón Bolívar .

Many of the natural places named after Alexander and other westerners had already names given to them by the people who lived in that region. Places were renamed as they were 'discovered' and colonized. In post-colonial times, some places have reverted to their original names. For example, in 1827 French explorer  Jules Dumont d'Urville  named a small bay near Jayapura, New Guinea, Humboldt Bay, but in 1968 it was renamed  Yos Sudarso Bay .

There are thirty-four monuments to Alexander on the map located in his homeland and countries he visited on his voyage.

They vary from the grand...

To simpler busts.

Others relate to his travels.

The map includes thirty-one 'populated places' that may be villages, towns or administrative areas. There are only four populated places in Germany all of which are urban. Places elsewhere in the world are both urban and rural. The rural area of  Humboldt, Queensland, Australia , had a population of just thirteen in 2016 Census.

In contrast to  Yos Sudarso Bay  that dropped the name Humboldt,  Guevea Humboldt, Oaxaca, Mexico  was called Guevea Santiago until 1936 when the state government changed the name to honour Alexander von Humboldt who spent some time in the town.

858 streets and squares and 42 parks are named in honour of Alexander, of which over 500 are in Germany and most of the remainder in the United States and Mexico.  Humboldt Park, Chicago, US , is a 207-acre (84 ha) park on the West Side of the city that contains the Stables and Receptory, designed by the firm of Frommann & Jebsen and built in 1895-6 and now home to the  National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture .

Humboldt was an experienced mining engineer, so it is perhaps not surprising that twenty-three mines are named after him. The majority of these in the western United States which was beginning to be exploited by European migrants in the years after Humboldt's journey.

Alexander was a great promoter of what we now call 'outreach', giving many free public lectures during his life. It was, however, his brother Wilhelm who was the most influential in this area convincing  Frederick William III  to create in 1810 what is now the  Humboldt University of Berlin , which was given its current name in honour of both brother on its re-opening in 1949 after the Second World War. The map includes five Universities, sixteen colleges and 177 schools concentrated in Germany, Peru, Equator and Columbia.

Locations were obtained from OpenStreetMap, Wikipedia and other sources. OpenStreetMap was queried for points and ways with that included the text 'Humbold' in their name, names that specifically refers to another Humboldt, usually his brother Wilhelm, were removed. Some 'important' locations have associated images.