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28-525: Friedrich Gerhard Rohlfs was born at Vegesack , now part of Bremen . His father was a physician, and there was much pressure on Rohlfs to join the field of medicine. After the ordinary course at the gymnasium of Osnabrück , he entered the Bremen corps in 1848, and took part as a volunteer in the Schleswig-Holstein campaign , being made an officer after the battle of Idstedt (July 1850). Rohlfs then became

56-411: A ferry service. Vegesack was established long before the 14th century. At that time the mouth of the river Lesum and the small brook Aue to the river Weser was a preferred and protected berth for sailing ships in the winter time or in the stormy seasons. Therefore, the first buildings might have been a few workshops and accommodations and pubs for the sailors. After the first mention of a ferry across

84-467: A lot of international maritime live music, Kleinkunst , open-air cinema and "Kutterpullen", a rowing contest. At the beginning of September, Vegesack celebrates the Vegesacker Markt (Vegesack market); a fair with fairground rides, raffle booths, shooting galleries and much more. In 2005 the fair was held for the 197th time. It starts with the pageant across the city, and ends with the wet funeral of

112-551: A medical student, and studied at the universities of Heidelberg , Würzburg , and Göttingen . He wanted to travel, and joined the French Foreign Legion in a medical capacity, serving during the conquest of Kabylia . He attained the highest rank open to a foreigner, and was decorated for bravery as Chevalier of the Legion of Honour . Having learned Arabic and the mode of life of the inhabitants, in 1861 he went to Morocco , and

140-758: The Calanshio Sand Sea of Libya , with which it is contiguous in the north. The dunes of the Great Sand Sea cover about 10% of the total area of the Egyptian Western Desert . Siwa is an oasis located in Egypt, about 50 km (30 mi) east of the Libyan border , in the eastern part of the Great Sand Sea or Egyptian Sand Sea. Although well-known to the Tuareg and traders who traveled with caravans across

168-699: The Gulf of Guinea from 1865 to 1867. He was the second European explorer to visit the region of the Draa River in southern Morocco. For this work he was awarded the Patron's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society of London in 1868. Rohlfs's detailed account of it is contained in the Ergänzungsheft ("Supplement") No. 34 to Petermann 's Geographische Mittheilungen (Gotha, 1872). At the close of 1867, by order of

196-655: The Knights of Oumunde . Reconstructed in the 17th century, today it is used as a local museum for exhibitions and exclusive events. Since 1989, the Statt-Theater-Vegesack , a semi-professional troupe of actors, has performed both classical and self-composed plays. The performances take place in the Bürgerhaus Vegesack community centre. The event centre KITO , hosted in an old storehouse, offers jazz, blues, folk and classical concerts and political theatre. Along

224-606: The Sahara , Friedrich Gerhard Rohlfs was the first European to document the Great Sand Sea. He began his Saharan expeditions in 1865, and named the great expanse of dunes the Große Sandmeer (Great Sand Sea), but it was not until 1924 with the maps of Egyptian courtier Ahmed Hassanein that the full scope of the Great Sand Sea was appreciated by Europeans. 29°30′N 21°45′E  /  29.500°N 21.750°E  / 29.500; 21.750 This geography of Egypt article

252-571: The khedive of Egypt Isma'il Pasha , Rohlfs explored the Libyan desert west of the chain of oases which skirt the valley of the Nile , and discovered that the depression called the Bahr Bela-ma (river without water), marked on many maps of the desert at that time, did not exist. Locals of Dakhla Oasis recounted a legend to the explorer Harding King, telling of Rohlfs arriving at the oasis in search of treasure at Deir al Hagar; claiming that he sacrificed one of

280-496: The king of Prussia , he joined the British punitive expedition to Abyssinia . He returned to Tripoli in 1868, and in 1869 traversed the desert from Tripoli to Alexandria, visiting the oasis of Siwah , site of the ancient cult of Jupiter Ammon. Returning to Germany, he married and settled down in Weimar . In 1873, with an expedition of 100 camels and 90 men, organized under the patronage of

308-617: The Lange shipyard was founded by Johann Lange. This company constructed in 1817 Germany´s first steaming ship Die Weser . In the first half of the 19th century Vegesack was the home of the Lange and the Ulrich shipyards. Both were the predecessors of the Bremer Vulkan shipyard and the Janssen/Sager shipyard. With these three shipyards, Vegesack was the greatest and most important shipbuilding site on

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336-678: The Lürssen shipyard was founded and is one of the greatest German shipyards today. While the headquarters is located directly at the Vegesack harbour, the production facilities are located on the opposite side of the Weser in Lemwerder as well as in the former Vulkan area. Sail training ship Schulschiff Deutschland , called The White Swan of the Lower-Weser . It is a pure sailing ship without auxiliary engine and

364-418: The Weser in the 14th century, the name "Vegesack" was first used in 1453. The source and the meaning of the name is unknown but might be derived from the pub "Thom Fegesacke". In its long history Vegesack often changed hands. In 1648 it became Swedish, 1712 Danish, 1802 Bremish and 1810 French. In 1850 Vegesack received town privileges and in 1939 it became again part of the city of Bremen. From 1619 to 1623

392-408: The Weser river for a long time. In 1896 the shipyard Bremer Vulkan was founded by some Bremen politicians and merchants. It became the greatest shipyard in civilian shipbuilding before World War I. The so-called Bremer Vulkan Verbund AG or Vulkan Group became Germany´s greatest shipbuilding company in the 1970s with altogether about 22,000 workers. The Vegesack shipyard closed in 1997. In 1875

420-439: The area is covered by sand dunes . The Great Sand Sea stretches about 650 km (400 mi) from north to south and 300 km (190 mi) from east to west. On satellite images, this desert shows a pattern of long sand ridges running in a roughly north-south direction. However, despite the apparent uniformity, the Great Sand Sea has two large areas with different types of megadunes. The Egyptian sand sea lies parallel to

448-465: The black workers of his entourage to the afrite guarding the treasure. It is possible that this is a testament to the cruel and exploitative treatment he would exhibit towards his workers. In 1874 Rohlfs set out from Dakhla Oasis intending to reach Kufra . By February the party was about 100 kilometres (62 mi) north of Abu Ballas (Pottery Hill) in the Western Desert , looking for a way around

476-471: The centre of Bremen-city at the mouth of the river Lesum , beside the river Weser ( 53°10′07″N 8°37′30″E  /  53.16861°N 8.62500°E  / 53.16861; 8.62500 ). Abutting the district of Vegesack to the northwest is the district of Blumenthal , in the southeast the district of Burglesum . Across the river Weser is the Lower Saxony village Lemwerder , connected to Vegesack by

504-704: The coast at Benghazi , reaching there in October 1879. In 1880 Rohlfs accompanied Stecker on an exploring expedition to Abyssinia ; but after delivering a letter from the German emperor to the Negus , he returned to Europe. In 1885, when the rivalry between the British and Germans in East Africa was very keen, Otto von Bismarck appointed Rohlfs consul at Zanzibar , which Bismarck desired to secure for Germany. Rohlfs, untrained in diplomacy,

532-465: The dunes. Accompanied by Karl Zittel and a surveyor called Jordans, Rohlfs and his colleagues experienced a torrential downpour - a rare occurrence in the desert. Rohlfs' team restocked and watered their camels and built a cairn at the place he named Regenfeld ("Rain field"). The westward progress of the expedition continued to be hampered by the north–south dune ridges of the Great Sand Sea which

560-566: The first artificial harbour of Germany, and one of the first in Europe, was built in Vegesack. The reason for this was the growth of shallows in the river Weser, which blocked big sailing ships from reaching Bremen´s harbour. Goods were then transshipped in the Vegesack-harbour to smaller boats or horse-drawn vehicles and transported to Bremen. With the new harbour the importance of Vegesack increased rapidly. The importance of Vegesack can be seen in

588-462: The following: In 1863 the forerunner of the German life boat service ( German : Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbrüchiger ) was founded in Bremen by Adolph Bermpohl , a navigation-teacher in Vegesack. In 1893 a fishing company was founded which became, in the mid-1930s, Europe's biggest herring fleet; Vegesack was the port of registry of this company which was closed in the 1960s. In 1805

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616-591: The last German full-rigged three-master ship, today owned and operated by the German Training Ship Association , Bremen. Constructed in 1927 by the Joh. C. Tecklenborg shipyard in Geestemünde , which is now part of the city of Bremerhaven , the ship was listed as a historical monument in 1994. Schloß Schönebeck ( Castle Schönebeck ), built middle of 14th century by Johann von Oumunde (=Aumund), head of

644-662: The loaded camels were unable to climb. The party was forced to head northwest along the easier inter-dune corridors and reached Siwa. In 1875, he visited the United States, and lectured on his travels. In 1878 Rohlfs and Anton Stecker (1855-1888) were commissioned by the German African Society to go to Wadai . They succeeded in reaching the oasis of Kufra , one of the chief centres of the Senussites , but being attacked by Arabs, they were obliged to retreat, making their way to

672-667: The market-witch in the Weser. Constructor University , formerly Jacobs University Bremen, is located in the Grohn district of Vegesack, on the site of a former military barracks. The following personalities (alphabetically arranged) acted in Vegesack: Great Sand Sea The Great Sand Sea is an approximately 72,000 km (28,000 sq mi) sand desert (erg) in the Sahara stretched from western Egypt and eastern Libya in North Africa . Most of

700-491: The oasis of Tuat . His description and map of the country were the first made from personal observation and with scientific knowledge. After this trip, and a short visit to Germany, Rohlfs returned to Africa, and, disguised as an Arab (going so far as to have himself circumcised), was the first European to cross Africa from Tripoli across the Sahara desert via Lake Chad and along the Niger River and to present-day Lagos on

728-732: The river Weser is the Stadtgarten (town garden) stretches along the Weserpromenade between the ferry and the Gläserne Werft (shipyard showcase). At the bottom of the scarp you can find many foreign trees and a rose garden, at the top are villas and captain's houses. The Vegesacker Hafenfest (Vegesack harbour festival) takes place on the first weekend in June. Three days full of live music, shanty choirs, maritime attractions and happy people. The Festival Maritim (beginning of August) also offers

756-514: Was for some time personal physician to a nobleman there. Rohlfs then set off on his own, exploring the oases of Morocco. During this trip he was attacked and left for dead, his leg almost severed from his body. These injuries would keep him from returning to Europe for most of his life, the cold weather aggravating them. In 1864 he continued his travels in Morocco, and crossed the Atlas Mountains to

784-405: Was no match for John Kirk , the British agent, and he was soon recalled. He did not visit Africa again. Rohlfs died at Rüngsdorf  [ de ] , near Bonn . Bremen-Vegesack Vegesack is a northern district of Bremen , the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (Freie Hansestadt Bremen). Vegesack is located about 20 km (12 mi) north from

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