Thunberg, Carl Peter (1743–1828)

Swedish botanical explorer who made extensive collections of the flora from Japan and South Africa – 3,000 botanical specimens from South Africa alone. In Flora japonica 1784 he identified 21 new genera of plants and hundreds of new species.

Thunberg was born in Jonkoping, Sweden and studied first in Jonkoping and then at Uppsala University, where he was influenced by the work of the eminent naturalist Carolus Linnaeus. He studied natural sciences including botany as well as medicine. In 1770, he graduated with an MD and went to Paris, where he obtained a position on a Dutch merchant ship bound for Japan, setting sail 1772. (The Dutch were the only Europeans permitted access to Japan at that time.) He travelled to Japan via South Africa, where he learnt Dutch and collected 3,000 botanical specimens. In 1775, the ship arrived in Nagasaki, Japan. Thunberg was not permitted to travel in Japan, but he exchanged his Western medical knowledge for specimens that were collected by locals.

In 1776, he travelled to Java and Ceylon before returning to Holland via the Cape Colony. He was made a demonstrator at Uppsala University 1779, but his career was hampered by his disagreements with Linnaeus's son who had replaced him. He was appointed professor of botany in the faculty of medicine.