After studying under Linnaeus at Uppsala University, he spent seven years travelling in southern Italy and Asia, collecting and describing people and animals new to European science, and observing local cultures.

To deepen his knowledge in botany, medicine and natural history, he was encouraged by Linnaeus in 1770 to travel to Paris and Amsterdam.

[1] Having heard of Thunberg's inquisitive mind, his skills in botany and medicine and Linnaeus' high esteem of his Swedish pupil, Johannes Burman and Laurens Theodorus Gronovius, a councillor of Leiden, convinced Thunberg to travel to either the West or the East Indies to collect plant and animal specimens for the botanic garden at Leiden, which was lacking exotic exhibits.

For example, he considered their custom to grease their skin with fat and dust as an obnoxious habit about which he wrote in his travelogue: "For uncleanliness, the Hottentots have the greatest love.

"[6] Yet, this harsh judgement is moderated by the reason he saw for this practice and so he continues that: "This stops up their pores and their skin is covered with a thick layer which protects it from heat in Summer and from cold during Winter.

Since the main purpose for his journey was to collect specimens for the gardens in Leiden, Thunberg regularly took field trips into the interior of South Africa.

Their journey took them to the north of Saldanha Bay, east along the Breede Valley through the Langkloof as far as the Gamtoos River and returning by way of the Little Karoo.

These restrictions had been imposed by the Japanese shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1639 after the Portuguese, who had been the first Europeans to arrive in Japan in 1543, persisted in missionary activity.

As a result, the appropriate authorities granted him more visits to the city and finally even allowed him one-day trips into the vicinity of Nagasaki, where Thunberg had the chance to collect specimens by himself.

[9] During his visits in town, Thunberg began to recruit students, mainly the Nagasaki interpreters and local physicians.

The exchange of ideas between Thunberg and the local physicians led to the development of a new acupuncture point called shakutaku.

The discovery of shakutaku was a result of Thunberg's anatomic knowledge and the Japanese traditional medicine of neuronic moxibustion.

[14] Due to his scientific reputation, Thunberg was given the opportunity in 1776 to accompany the Dutch ambassador M. Feith to the shogun's court in Edo, today's Tokyo.

[15] On his way to Edo, Thunberg also obtained many Japanese coins, which he described in detail in the fourth volume of his travelogue, Travels in Europe, Africa and Asia, performed between the Years 1770 and 1779.

The coins provided new insights for European scholars into the culture, religion and history of Japan, as their possession and export by foreigners had been strictly forbidden by the shogun.

This prohibition had been imposed to prevent the Empire of China and other rivals of the shogunate from copying the money and flooding the Japanese markets with forged coins.

[19] Three main reasons for this have been proposed: A genus of tropical plants, Thunbergia, family Acanthaceae, which are cultivated as evergreen climbers, is named after him.