Friedrich Sellow

In the next year, with recommendations and financial assistance from Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), Sellow traveled to the Netherlands and England, coming in contact with the most prominent botanists of the time.

In 1814, with the financial backing of British botanists, and after having made meticulous preparations, Sellow sailed to Rio de Janeiro.

Sellow learned to speak Portuguese, and carried out initially smaller excursions in the environs of Rio de Janeiro; including, from 1815 to 1817, an expedition led by the German prince Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied (1782–1867).

Further financing from Prussia allowed Sellow to undertake numerous other expeditions in southern Brazil and Uruguay during the next 11 years; he traveled into the unexplored regions of the country, and collected thousands of plants, seeds, wood samples, insects and minerals.

In one of his ethnographic expeditions, Sellow accompanied the diplomat Ignaz Maria von Olfers (1793–1872), who later became the first general manager of the Royal Prussian museums.