Anders Sparrman

Anders Sparrman (27 February 1748 – 9 August 1820) was a Swedish naturalist, abolitionist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus.

At the age of nine he enrolled at Uppsala University, beginning medical studies at fourteen and becoming one of the outstanding pupils of Linnaeus.

He sailed for the Cape of Good Hope in January 1772 to do natural history research, supporting himself by tutoring children.

[1] When James Cook arrived there later in the year at the start of his second voyage, Sparrman was taken on as assistant naturalist to Johann and Georg Forster.

After the voyage he returned to Cape Town in July 1775 and practiced medicine, earning enough to finance a journey into the interior.

Anders Sparrman
Miniature of Sparrman at the time of his travels with James Cook. By unknown artist.